The Chaos Theory
by Jair1337
Summary: A Chaos energy release sends Sonic and six of his friends to Equestria. They think all they need is to get home, an easy task on the surface. But as they go deeper they find just how serious things are. And a past that was hidden will change them forever.
1. Chapter 1: An ordinary day

**Disclaimer: The following story contains members of certain properties that belong to the Hasbro corperation and the creation of Lauren Faust. Also there are properties that belong to the Sega corporation and Sonic team. And certain properties of Nintendo.**

**I do not claim yadda yadda yadda. Except for the characters of Sunset Sky, Thunder, Lightning, Appleblossom, Amethyst, Equestria, The Universe Beast, San, Honrar, Marcus, any other G.U.N. agents I give personalities to and Rone. Which are mine.  
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**Marnax and Engessa are not mine as well.  
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**Also references to real life, including insertion of two real people, are not to be taken seriously. Thank you.  
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This story starts out with fairly bad writing style. Keep in mind that this is my very first time writing anything released to the general public. It gets better. And longer. Recent ones are rarely under 2000 words. Chapter 13 (oddly enough) is where you see a drastic improvement. I may re-write the first few later on. After I finish the fic.

Second: This follows the FiM world as that was the setting I was in when I got the inspiration. Just to say. If you want a classic-style. Go find a diff story.

Another thing: This could be read as a K+ story but I put it as a T story due to... good bouts of violence. Say a pony getting impaled... thrice.

What inspired me: I really was walking to the store one day when the image of a pony version of Sonic and Rainbow Dash racing hit me. I rushed home and typed out the first chapter in 5 minutes. I first submitted it to a RP forum I was on. Then I continued on. My writing improved and another person decided to help me, he was writing a shorter fan-fic and we decided to cross over (the character of Marnax later on) because I needed a guard character to help.

One question that came up always was "Who would win? Sonic or Rainbow Dash?" Sorry guys but Sonic would. I have never seen Rainbow dash go over 2500 MPH (Check the star posts in Sonic Unleashed. You can go that fast). BUT. For the sake of this fic Sonic has better accel but RD can go faster over a long distance.

Enjoy!

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><p>Rainbow Dash woke up to a nice early morning. She yawned and stretched her wings. She spread them and started to do flying exercises, letting all of the early risers know that she was still the fastest around. The weather was to be clear all day. No clouds to get in her way.<p>

She swooped down to the library to talk to Twilight. Twilight was planning a trip through the everfree forest that day. The rainbow-maned pegasus couldn't care less but the others were scared to death for her. "It's just a forest like any other. Besides, I need some samples of the flora there for studying." Twilight had said to them. Rainbow Dash agreed with her. Sure last time Twilight went there she was turned to stone. But she learned from that experience. She wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Rainbow dash knocked on the door and saw that Twilight was almost ready. "Oh, hi Rainbow Dash." the purple unicorn said, "I just finished getting my things. Spike will stay here and hold down the fort while I'm gone, right Spike?"

"Yeah yeah." said the young dragon, obviously tired. It was pretty early in the morning.

"Just be careful running into creatures you don't know." Replied Rainbow dash in a somewhat mocking way, "We don't want you turning into stone again."

"Ha ha very funny." replied the unicorn. She had a lot of book smarts but Rainbow Dash still had a small amount of worry for her. She was a bit immature when it came to self-defense. "I will be fine. I wont have to have Fluttershy come rescue me."

They left the library and they started talking on their way to the forest. When they got there Twilight said good-bye and started off into the mist. Rainbow dash turned to leave but she heard a thud a ways away. She sped toward where she heard the noise and there, lying unconscious, was a lean, blue, earth pony colt with a blue mane. Rainbow dash tried to wake him up when she spotted his cutie mark. A ring.


	2. Chapter 2: Awakening

Sonic was sleeping soundly when he was awoken by a noise. It was coming from underground. He turned to look down and saw a light. It was green and Sonic wasn't too worried until he realized it was pulsing with chaos energy. He jumped up and was about to speed off when the area around him changed suddenly and he was free-falling toward the ground from a fair distance. He was about to shout "what the heck!" but he hit the ground and was knocked out.

He opened his eyes and was staring at a horse, he thinks his mind screams "pony" for some reason, With light blue coat and a rainbow mane. He jumps back onto his feet but promptly falls down. It was like he couldn't stand on two feet! He realizes a loss of sensation in his hands and looks at them to show he has hooves. He jumps up again this time on all fours and nails the landing, a bit wobbly though. He is in a plain with a forest next to him and a town nearby.

The light blue pony was laughing at him. This time he notices it's a filly, and, wait, are those wings? He gives a slight jump but realizes his spikes were flying everyplace. He looks and sees a spiky mane in its place! He takes a long look at himself and sees he became a pony! He was blue and his mane and tail were a slightly darker blue. "Wha-Wha-Whats going on? Why am I a pony, and where am I?" Sonic blurted out.

The filly laughed harder, "Hah hah, good one! You're in Ponyville, silly!"

"Ponyville? look who are you? WHAT are you?"

"HA HA HA, I'm *snicker* Rainbow Dash." She said before she lost control and started shouting laughter. After a while she calmed down, "*Snicker* And who are you?"

"I-I'm Sonic. And I'm supposed to be a hedgehog!"


	3. Chapter 3: Always free

Twilight Sparkle stopped searching for flowers. It had been several hours by now and she had found enough. The amount of plants unique to the everfree was astounding. Although the castle garden had a lot of tropical flora, this forest is more varied; more dangerous as well. She was astounded at the amount of times she had been through but not examined the plant life. Most of the times it was a bit urgent. But no, this was serene, casual walk through the forest.

Twilight was content until, that is, a large streak of... something came shooting at her. She was able to get down just in time. Out of her better judgement, she ran toward the source. And there was a black unicorn. It was a stallion and had hair similar to Twilight's own, albeit a bit more frazzled and his was more midnight black with a crimson streak.

Twilight wondered who this could be and if he gave that shot of energy. She stooped when she realized that something was just out of her current range of view. A manticore was staring at the stallion like it was about to charge. It leaped above the pony, turned around and landed behind him. The manticore charged and Twilight though the pony was a goner. Then, all of a sudden, the black stallion jumped up, dodged the charge and fired a few bolts of that energy into the manticore. His adversary was greatly injured and Twilight felt a little sorry. But she immediately noticed the pony had fallen, for he couldn't land properly. The manticore noticed this too and took advantage of it. It started charging at top speed. The purple unicorn's heart raced and noticed that the black pony seemed equally as worried. But more tranquil about it. Like a perpetual stare. Twilight jumped out, ran to the fallen unicorn and cast a teleportation spell on them both just in time.

After they re-appeared the stallion got up, nodded, and turned to leave when he stopped. Twilight noticed his cutie mark. It, oddly enough, wasn't a tool or something pertaining to a craft, but instead it was a symbol. It was red and a spiky circle. The stallion turned fully and asked in a deep, serious voice, "Is there a town nearby?"

"Yes there is just outside the woods, I was just returning there." replied Twilight, a bit nervously.

"Take me there." The black unicorn replied, "And who are you?"

"Twilight Sparkle and you?" Replied the filly, a bit annoyed at the demanding tone.

"Shadow, and I really have no idea what I am..." 


	4. Chapter 4: On your air,

Sonic had just finished recounting his story. It was rather short as he didn't know much of what happened. Rainbow Dash was a bit bored all the same. Staying at one place for a while didn't much suit her. Finally Sonic finished.

"So you are saying that you come from a different world with different types of animals including hedgehogs, like yourself, and were teleported here by powerful gems." Said Rainbow Dash

"Yes thats it! And by coming here I was turned into a- a- pony." replied Sonic, anxiously.

"Are you sure the fall didn't do more than just knock you out? That sounds pretty crazy to me."

"I'm telling the truth!"

"Well if you are a hedgehog you might want to talk to Fluttershy."

"Futtershy? What types of names do you have here?"

"Says the 'hedgehog' named Sonic."

"But thats due to my speed."

"Heh you are fast? I'd like to see you race me." Said Rainbow Dash ready for a challenge that would be easy to win. She had wings after all. Sure it was sudden but what the hay.

"Why not? It would be good practice. Me on foot you flying." Sonic said. He seemed as cocky as the pegasus.

"Okay Fluttershy's cottage is right over there" Said the rainbow-maned filly as she pointed toward the outskirts of the town.

"Fine. But no using your wings flying OVER things."

"Yeah about that, let me get up high so I can have good acceleration. You have to go down to get a good speed." She said as she flew up.

"Whatever." Said the blue colt. "On your marks, or air. Get set. GO." he said as he dashed off. Rainbow Dash was dumbfounded at how fast that pony could go. He seemed to be breaking land speed records at every step. No wait he was breaking what would be considered the absolute maximum a pony could go. Even flying, Rainbow Dash could barely keep up.

The race was over very quickly with Sonic as the victor, by a millimeter. "That was just because I let you off easy" huffed Rainbow dash.

"Yeah sure you did. I'm the fastest thing alive. And I wasn't even at my top speed. If I were you would tell by the sound." Remarked the smug colt. Rainbow Dash finally remembered where she had heard the word 'Sonic' before. Sonic Rainboom. 'But that still doesn't give me a excuse for losing.' she thought. Still sulking Rainbow Dash knocked on Fluttershy's door to get a welcome "Come in" from the pegasus.

As the two racers went in the house they noticed a orangeish-yellow pegasus colt with a short mane talking to the yellow, pink-maned pegasus which Sonic took to be Fluttershy. He was pretty young and Sonic noticed nothing special. Until that colt turned around and showed that he had, two tails.


	5. Chapter 5: The Chaos Theory

Shadow had no idea what to make of this situation. He had been watching the sun rise in the morning. When a red light started shining from the ground. He knew enough to guess it was Chaos energy coming from a emerald. He dug quickly and found the emerald beneath him right before the world around him changed. He then noticed his change in form immediately as instead of holding the emerald he was balancing it on his hoof. He went to use it's power but instead of the emerald being the source it was this... horn, thing on his head that lit up. After a few hours of practice Shadow became as used to the quirks of the horn as he was to the emeralds, since there were few differences, including the odd telekinesis energy. He was about to head out when he encountered the... beast that the other... thing saved him from.

And now he was trusting this, something in his mind said 'pony', girl to lead him to a place to learn more. It was perpetual silence between the two. The former black and red hedgehog pulled out the chaos emerald from a tangle in his mane he had stashed it in. It had a odd device attached to it like it was being used remotely. He felt like he was no longer drawing power from it but the energy was completely his he had been calling on.

"What is that?" said the pony girl, "Some gemstone?"

"Close," replied Shadow, "It's a Chaos emerald. one of the sources of power in my world."

The other stopped for a moment like she had heard the name before. Her eyes suddenly widened and she jumped back. "Stay back, black mage!" she yelled.

"What are you talking about?" asked Shadow, a bit surprised.

"Really you shouldn't try to fool me. That CHAOS emerald of yours gave you away."

"Girl, I have no idea what you are talking about."

"HAH yeah right. I know the Chaos Theory."

"What does crackpot waving of arms have to do with black mag-" Shadow said before dodging tree branches being flung at him. A boulder was tossed at him and he destroyed it with a blast of energy.

"Huh I just got a awful shudder." said Pinkie Pie back in ponyville, "Like someone is destroying rocks." The group following her stopped and looked at each other in a puzzled manner. "Oh well." Pinkie said before bouncing away again.

Back in the forest Twilight's barrage of items being thrown and telekinetic grips were still being dodged by Shadow. "That's it." he said before charging at the purple pony and locking her in a blast of Chaos control. After a while Twilight was released and Shadow pinned her down. "What was the meaning of that?"

"You know very well black-"

"Shut up about the black mage stuff. Just tell me what 'The Chaos Theory' is that made you attack me. What the heck does moving of air causing tornados in Spangolia have to do with what you said?"

Twilight looked at the stallion and sighed, "What are you talking about? The Chaos Theory states as follows: Magic is divided into two parts which are light magic and black magic, they have more formal names but that is the gist. The Chaos Theory states that one who has control over light magic, like myself, will be a good person; one who has control over black magic, Chaos magic as some records call it, will be evil."

"Sounds like a generalization as I have full control over the Chaos energy and I'm not evil."

Twilight gave a stern look and reminded Shadow that this is the person who had her pinned to the ground in a forest.

"Says the person who was tossing boulders at me." he remarked coldly.

"Point taken." Twilight admitted.

"Look forget this and lets move on." he said slightly lifting one of his hooves.

Twilight looked a bit doubtful of the black stallion before finally agreeing. She figured they would discuss this later.


	6. Chapter 6: Stone Hooves

Twilight felt strange guiding the stallion, wait she meant criminal, out of the forest. She was even more embarrassed that her friends were right. She couldn't even get a scratch on him before she had lost. And he didn't even have to use anything special to do so. Just that weird shot that apparently froze her. Like a stone. Twilight was thinking of ways to get away from the dark pony. She realized all the odd things he had said. "I don't know what I am." "In my world." and even when told the Chaos Theory which every unicorn is taught right after graduation he answered, "I have no idea what you are talking about." and even doubted it. What nerve! But then it dawned on twilight... well at least somewhere in the world because it was midday in ponyville, not dawn. But it occurred to the unicorn filly that maybe the other wasn't from here. "You aren't from these parts are you?" she asked.

Shadow gave a chuckle, "What makes you think that? My cluelessness at your world or the time I flat out said I was from a different world?"

Twilight was annoyed at him mocking her, but then he kept using world instead of country, "What part of Equestria are you from?"

Shadow was now a bit more annoyed, "I'm not from this Equestria place of yours. I told you I'm from a different world!"

Twilight now thought she was helping a lunatic. Thinking he was from a different universe? Hah. "You keep using world but thats impossible."

"Oh?" asked Shadow in a... well he actually hadn't changed tones in the slightest but the difference was noticeable, "Why can't I be?"

"Because universe travel is impossible."

"Great! Then I must have been sleeping in those woods all my life and my creation, loss of only friend," he paused like he was having problems continuing, "Capture, awakening and all the worse stuff afterwards was all a dream because it wasn't in this world."

Twilight was shocked. This pony actually believed that he was from a different world. "Well how can you tell this is a different world?"

"If it weren't I wouldn't be this pony thing. I'm a hedgehog for pete's sake."

Twilight started charging up her horn to tranquilize this lunatic when he turned and charged up his own. She backed down, he waited a bit longer before backing down. "You can't be a hedgehog." she finally said.

"You cant be a talking pony with a horn. But you are."

"Wait you are sure you are from a different world?" asked Twilight. Shadow just stared at her like she was a moron. "Umm... yes?" Twilight managed to get out.

Shadow was becoming fairly impatient and tossed the Chaos emerald to Twilight. "See the small device on it?"

"That odd thingy?"

"Yes, that somehow triggered it in a way that brought me out of my world and into this one."

Twilight wasn't sure what to make of it. But she was a bit more than convinced that Shadow was, as far as he knew, telling the truth. She gave the emerald back and started asking questions about the world the black stallion was from. He seemed to go around the questions about his past. He only asked one question in return. About why she had attacked him. "Black magic was outlawed by Celestia's order after Nightmare Moon arose." she had said.

"Nightmare moon?" He had asked.

"It's a story for another time." She answered

They got out of the woods in no time. Twilight had to pick up a few apples so they had gone out on the side of 'Sweet Apple Acres'. The purple filly was about to go into the barn to get Applejack when Shadow started looking intently in another direction. Twilight saw what it was. Applejack was sitting by a red unicorn who was tied to a post. Twilight ran up to her friend and got a better look at the odd unicorn stallion which looked a bit older than Shadow, slightly redder mane than his body and it fell in dreadlocks, his tail was also red. He was screaming fire at the farm pony and staring daggers. Luckily for Applejack he had horrible aim and the daggers kept missing her. "Hello, Applejack, who is this?" inquired Twilight.

"Beats me, sugarcube, but this here varmint was prowling on mah farm, and when I went up to him he acted like a fool and started trying to hit me with his front hooves. Fell flat on the ground."

"What was he saying?"

"Same thing he is now," She quickly changed her voice to match the screaming hostage's very well, "Let me go! Where did you take it? What did you do to me? that stuff. But on to you, who is Mr. tall dark and handsome thar?"

Twilight became a bit red but mostly with anger at that statement. Shadow didn't mind and walked up to the stallion. Twilight peered at the red pony's cutie mark and saw a large emerald. Shadow turned the tied up stallion's head away from the farmer's and to his own. He smiled, probably the first time Twilight had seen that, and said, "You let a girl beat you so easily?"

The red pony's face turned redder and then back to normal. The realization came over him quickly. "Umm... she had a rope, Shadow. Well uhh... at least I finally see a friendly face."

The dark stallion chuckled again while the filly and mare looked confused, "It's good to see you too, Knuckles."


	7. Chapter 7: A hedgehog in the hand

Rainbow Dash was quite sore due to losing. She, the fastest flier in Equestria, was beaten by a earth pony on foot and her using her wings. She held a bit of respect for the colt but was annoyed all the same. But when she had seen his reaction to the other pegasus with Fluttershy she wondered what was going through his mind.

Sonic, however, looked in amazement at the filly he took to be Tails. Like himself, the coloration was like he had been as a fox but... different in a way. "Umm hello sir- *squeak*" said the yellow and pink mare, obviously frightened by him or extremely shy. As she was talking another pegasus came in, a filly even smaller than Tails with a smooth cram coloration with almost white hair, And she gasped at Sonic. At this Tails turned around and gasped as well. "Sonic?" he said.

"I'm afraid so, Tails." He said, leaving Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy dumbstruck, "And is that you, Cream?" he said to the other pony who came in.

"Yes, Mr. Sonic, do you know what happened?" asked the young filly. Cream was polite even in a situation that anyone her age would forget manners probably.

"No, not in the slightest, unfortunately. But this place is kinda nice. I have racing competition for once. Although barely." he said, turning to the rainbow-maned filly. Rainbow Dash gave a grin not unlike Sonic's own when he feels like he is being challenged, of course she didn't know this fact but as she had said later "Great minds think alike."

"W-wait you four know each other?" Piped up the shy mare.

"Well I just met him." stated Rainbow Dash, nodding at Sonic. "But I have no idea who the others are."

"Sonic is a friend of ours from our world" said Tails. Rainbow dash finally saw the young colt's cutie mark. a wrench. 'He must like fixing things' thought Rainbow Dash. She couldn't make out the other ponies due to a odd dress thing she had on but she figured it was blank. She was young after all and Rainbow dash was surprised even the orange pony had a cutie mark at all.

The five ponies got to talking for a long time. Finally Pinkie pie came in saying "Hello Flutter- *gasp* *gasp* *gasp* !" Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed the door so Pinkie pie could focus on what she needed to say and not plan three parties. "Oh yeah, Fluttershy, I found a pony right outside ponyville and she was sad, I mean really sad. She was crying and I tried giving her cake, cake always works except for the one cake Applejack brought to the gala flew up into the air and went *splat* on Rarity's face she wasn't too happy, but anyways I then tried talking to..." rambled Pinky Pie. Sonic was amazed at how much energy the pony had. He was hyper, sure, but not like this.

"Um Pinkie maybe we should help the pony." Fluttershy said.

"*Gasp* you are right! LETS GO!" Said pinkie bouncing out the door. The rest followed her until she stopped suddenly. "Huh I just got a awful shudder." said Pinkie Pie, "Like someone is destroying rocks." The group following her stopped and looked at each other in a puzzled manner. "Oh well." Pinkie said before bouncing away again. Rainbow dash explained that Pinkie was a rock farmer as a child. Sonic wondered what other weird occupations they had.

They finally found the pony. Sonic didn't even have to hear her speak to know who she was. Mostly due to the fact that she was wearing the same clothes she always does. Amy, that pink hedgehog claiming to be his girlfriend had followed him even here, probably against her will. "Amy, what are you doing out here?" he asked. Amy looked quite like Pinkie except with her mane nicely combed. Her cutie mark was barely visible but it was her hammer. It was like they could be sisters.

"S-Sonic? Is... th-th-at you?" 


	8. Chapter 8: Echidna Buckin'

Shadow was pleased to see the red echidna... well what WAS a echidna. "I have no idea where we are and yelling at farmers doesn't help." he said before using a bolt of Chaos energy to cut the ropes. The red unicorn fell, got up, brushed himself off, and gave Applejack a stern look. "Really you could at least have used chaos control to get out of there." he said to the stallion, who was thoroughly annoyed.

"Easy for you to say. You don't need more than one emerald." Knuckles replied.

"Not here. It seems innate and I bet you could do it." Shadow replied.

Twilight and Applejack had no idea what was happening. When the red unicorn rolled his eyes and tried. He dissipated in a bolt of light and reappeared... over Applejack. The unicorn fell straight on the farm pony's back. Applejack shut her eyes and gritted her teeth. "If yer name ain't Spike or Rainbow Dash you have three seconds to live." She grunted.

"Umm" the pony stammered.

"One"

"Uh oh"

"Two" Said Applejack before the unicorn jumped off her back and started running as fast as he could. "Three" Said Applejack before opening her eyes and racing after Knuckles. At this time both Twilight Sparkle and Shadow facehoofed. They didn't see the two for a while until Knuckles appeared on the roof of the barn. "HA she didn't catch me. Ah it would have been a unfair fight anyways because well she is a lad-"

"Knuckles." The two unicorns on the ground said.

"I mean sure she beat me the first time but that was because I was a bit clu-"

"Knuckles" They repeated

"And hey howdy she is way down th-" Knuckles looked down and saw the lasso around his legs, "She has had the there for a while hasn't she?"

"Yup" Twilight and Shadow said.

Knuckles looked embarrassed but as he was pulled off the roof he cried, "STONE HOOVES!" and went flying at Applejack for a fight. Twilight and Shadow nodded and teleported to the two. They grabbed their friends and the rope and tied them both to a pole. After the two stopped trying to gnaw away at the ropes twilight untied them and gave them both a stern look. The two feuding ponies blushed and looked down.

"Now will you help me get these guys back to the world they come from or what?"

"World?" asked the orange mare. Twilight explained what had happened. "If it means gittin' this varmint off my property it works for me!" said Applejack after the lecture.

"We will need someone who can examine this." Shadow said as he pulled out the chaos emerald.

"Eh, I'm no gem expert but Rarity is!" exclaimed Applejack.

"Wait the emerald doesn't matter the power is what does!" Said Knuckles.

"Precisely," said Twilight, "But Rarity is a unicorn so she should be able to judge the magic." Shadow agreed and after a quick load of apples for Twilight they moved on into ponyville.


	9. Interlude 1: A Storybook Story

Comet put down the book she was reading to the fifth grade class. She was a deep purple unicorn mare with a black mane. Her cutie mark was a pile of books. "We will continue this book tomorrow but then we will have someone special reading it. Luz's," she pointed at a blue earth pony filly with a silver mane, "Older brother, Blitz. Class dismissed." The fillies and colts ran out quickly. Luz stayed though. "Wow the class really enjoyed the story." She said.

"Yes they do. Shows you how good Celestia and Luna were at covering the truth. Else this would be a recent history lesson not a modern pony tale." The older teacher sighed. At this another pony came in. A pegasus stallion who looked near exactly like Luz. "Hey, sis, hey *Ahem* Comet." he said.

"Blitz, did you care to wash before coming here from the flight school?" Comet said waving her hoof to fend off the smell

"Nah I didn't want to have to re-apply 'you know what'. So you wanted me to read the 'History book' tomorrow?" Blitz chuckled

Comet rolled her eyes, "Blitz you are going to get us all caught one day."

Blitz continued, "We are going to get caught one day but thats due to the overwhelming evidence including the existence of our mo-" He was cut off by comet jamming her hoof into the stallion's mouth.

"We will if you continue speaking like that. We live dual lives to protect this. Knowing too much as one is going to call the presses on us. Besides it would ruin our reputations." She said furiously before removing her hoof.

"Blossom has it easy." sighed Blitz "For one thing she doesn't have prowlers that go outside her window and thing that me and her are in a tight relationship." He started nodding at the window. Ugh there was Silver Spoon. been the gossip mare for thirty years now. They say she started as a filly and now... Comet sent a blast of light her way sending her running.

The three ponies started walking toward 'Sweet Apple Acres'. The river was by there. "Hey since you are going to your second jobs can I get mine off?" Luz asked.

"Sure sis. Just be sure to go to Blossom afterward." said Blitz. They arrived and they could see Appleblossom up on the hill sitting around since it was a off day. Appleblossom was a reddish orange older filly with a yellow mane, a unicorn and proud to be one at that. The first in the apple family to be. Her cutie mark was a few apples at first glance. "Hello up there!" Blitz and Comet yelled.

"Well I'll be! You guys here to go to the other places?"

"Yes" Said Comet. "Lightning will be with you this afternoon since we are busy."

"Well if yer busy Lightnin' is welcome. As long as she doesn't get in my way later."

"You doing that this afternoon? No apples to sell?"

"Nah mom says that its not a good day today." Said the clay-colored filly. Comet shrugged and she dipped her mane into the river. When she came out the purple and red stripe on her mane was shown and she splashed a bit of water on her cutie mark to reveal the yin-yang symbol on her flank. Her real name was Sunset Sky, daughter of Twilight Sparkle and Shadow. Princess Luna's adviser.


	10. Interlude 2: Nothing out of the ordinary

Blitz, whose real name was Thunder and was Sonic and Rainbow Dash's son, came up from the river too. His silver paint giving way to the same rainbow mane his mother had. His false cutie mark was a feather, now it was a storm cloud. Less of a cutie mark and more of a symbol. He said goodbye to Sunset and showed his sister, Lightning, to the barn and stayed for a second to talk to Appleblossom.

Appleblossom had a much more normal life than Sunset and Thunder. She basically had the same jobs her parents, Applejack and Knuckles, did. but she didn't have to do duel personalities as she was in the other world for that job. Unlike the others who had to paint their manes and cutie marks to go around town. She was the second youngest, next to Lightning, of the group of those who were crossed with the other-worlders. Mostly due to Knuckles' temper and how long it took her mother to get that under control. But having two genetically strong parents helped her with strenth. Somewhat like how Twilight and Shadow gave Sunset control over both types of magic, And how Rainbow Dash and Sonic gave him great speed on land and sky. He chuckled, to this day the two never settled who was faster. Both had won some and lost some. Their races normally took place miles away from civilization. Thunder didn't normally race because having Sonic's ground acceleration and the wings gave him a massive unfair advantage.

Thunder just thought that all of them were lucky in a way. Sunset had her dad around frequently as a secret adviser to Celestia along with her mother. The others didn't as noone knew their parents existed. He had a prominent position as a Wonderbolt, like her mother was for a while before she became bored with it, she was now a coach for them. The others didn't have high jobs even though Sunset was a adviser to Luna she was more a bodyguard, there were still people with hatred toward the princess and that really is significant as Rainbow Dash would tell you. And Appleblossom didn't have to have a different life. But then all of them were unlucky in a way. Sunset constantly had to hide her black magic so she wouldn't be considered evil, and a small incident. He was mauled by press as long as he didn't have the paint. And Appleblossom had to sit around watching a giant emerald, fun. You take the good with the bad.

"So what is going on with life?" asked Thunder to Appleblossom.

"Nutin much. No apple thievin varmints to nab, No one has been trying to steal the Master Emerald 'cept that annoying bat, pop says she's been after it for decades now. And nutin to sell."

"Sounds like a great life."

"To someone who is trampled by a horde of newsponies every day maybe." Pointed out the unicorn filly, "But what about you?"

"I'm supposed to read our ancestors story to Sunset's class."

"You have that there thing memorized." She remarked. Thunder gave a chuckle to this. It was true, he did. Ahh how did it go?


	11. Chapter 9: All is better with a frenemy

Knuckles thought this was madness. He needed to be home guarding the Master Emerald, not following hors- ponies around a village. The red stallion looked around and saw constructions similar to that of human villages. Quaint, he liked it better than the huge cities like Westopolis. They didn't attract too much attention while walking around. The two ponies ahead of Shadow and himself apparently were well liked. All the ponies had marks on their flanks. 'Is that some sort of tattoo?' he thought. Later he noticed that Shadow had one too. A odd symbol. And he did as well. The Master Emerald. 'It must have something to do with their occupation.' he concluded right as they reached a large building of some sort. "This is Rarity's shop." Said the purple unicorn in front of him.

They went in and Knuckles and Shadow started hearing very familiar shouts. They looked and saw, in a similar was Knuckles had been, a tied up pony. This one was black with a white mane and had wings and some sort of suit. She was beating them with no prevail when the two new ponies came up and at the same time said, "Hello Rouge."

The pony looked confused, then realization crept over her face and a smile when she whispered, "Great you two are here, untie me and lets get these jewels!"

At this the two noticed that this was a clothing shop and there were jewels littered everywhere. They paused for a moment and said, again at the same time, "Not right now." Rouge started turning red with fury.

"You talking to that annoying thief?" said a voice which belonged to a white unicorn with a purple mane who was coming out from behind a pile of clothes, "Ah so you know her. What would you say she in in relation to you?"

"Arch frenemy." Muttered Knuckles

"Ally." Stated Shadow.

"WELL I NEVER! ALL THE TIMES I'VE SAVED BOTH OF YOUR SKINS!" Screamed the former bat.

"Okay... woah." Said Rarity before she became entrapped in magic and was sent veering toward Shadow, horn down. He stepped to the side but the magic followed him, turning Rarity around and at Shadow again. He didn't have time to react but he needn't because it hit something in his mane. Shadow felt a immense pain as the emerald was rammed into his neck. followed by a blast of energy that sent both Rarity and Shadow flying. After they got up Rarity had the emerald still on her horn but she had destroyed the small device on it. It was a restrainer so it wouldn't tip off whoever was being teleported there was a emerald nearby. Rarity felt the power through her. Shadow got it with his telekinesis. "What was that!" Rarity said in shock.

"For someone with a lot of gems you sure don't know much about them." mocked Rouge, "That's a Chaos Emerald."

"For someone tied up you have a mouth on you." replied Rarity.

At this moment the doors flew open and seven ponies stood in its entrance. Knuckles looked. "Twilight you here? We got some visitors who need help." said a voice that sounded Sonic's when his voice was changing years ago. When the speaker revealed herself it was a rainbow-maned filly. And tailing her was a blue colt. "Twilight? I heard you might be able to help u-" The colt said in a voice a LOT like Sonic's. He froze and looked at Knuckles, Shadow and Rouge. "I guess we aren't the only ones with problems." he chuckled, "Even Mr. Ultimate Life Form is here." Knuckles knew this was Sonic. And they were in much deeper than they thought.


	12. Chapter 10: Ignorance truly is bliss

Sonic awoke in the field right outside ponyville. It had been around one month since they were teleported out of their world. Sonic had to admit it was nice. Long, unpopulated stretches of land, friendly folks, nothing not to like. A bit dull though because Eggman wasn't with them. He had spent his time mostly running and racing Rainbow Dash. That pegasus had won a few times can you believe it? Most of them were cheats though but he wasn't exactly clean in his racing either. Tails was mostly examining ponies to create machines for them, of course. Cream had been helping Fluttershy. Rouge was... being Rouge, trying to steal gems from Rarity. Knuckles was still reeling from being beaten twice and started trying to get back at Applejack. So far it was Knuckles: 10 Applejack: 40-ish. The 10 were mostly flukes. Amy had been helping the hyperactive Pinky in sugarcube corner.

Shadow, on the other hand, wasn't very active. He really had no choice as Twilight had pretty much imprisoned him in the library with a magic force-field. She said that he would be captured by guards if he was found. And he apparently had a track record. But Sonic didn't he didn't minded much. Mostly he was whittling wood. He said that the Chaos energy was more controllable so he often made energy knives and just randomly made carvings. He had a massive collection. Twilight had been out less mostly trying to find ways to get the group of seven home. Celestia had said she had no idea. "Helpful Royalty they have here" Sonic chuckled to himself. Shadow often said that she would work herself out cold. Sonic had seen that once. He and Rainbow Dash had been lab rats for her experiments. And a personality switch spell knocked her out. "Well you will stay like that for a while unfortunately." Shadow had said, "Luckily I see no noticeable personality difference between you two at all." Sonic couldn't agree more. It was uncanny.

He started jogging around ponyville. It was a busy morning but he managed. He first stopped by Fluttershy's cottage outside the town and said hi to her and cream, then stopped by Sugarcube Corner for energy food, at least thats what he said it was more likely a cupcake, chuckled as he yelled at Rouge who was trying to rob Rarity again. She lost her stability and plummeted to the ground. He warned Applejack about Knuckles who was setting up a water hose to soak her, chatted with Tails for a second, waved at Rainbow Dash who was making laps right above ponyville, and relieved Ditzy of a package to the library. He got there, stepped in and saw Shadow whittling again and Twilight tossing books everywhere. "You two having fun?" he asked. Shadow rolled his eyes and Twilight rushed to him when she saw the package. She gave a small squeal of joy and snatched it, tore it open and gasped.

"She has been waiting for that book for around a week." Shadow explained.

"What is it?" the racing pony asked.

"Daring Dimension Diver's Dictionary." Said Shadow. Twilight was flipping through the book like there was a pile of gold in it. She found what she was looking for, yelled, and dropped like a stone. "Finally, she hasn't slept in 30ish hours." Stated the black pony.

"What was it she was looking for?" Inquired Sonic. Shadow pointed at the book like saying 'How should I know? look yourself.' Sonic did and gasped. Shadow, intrigued, looked too. "That can't be good." he said.

"Its even worse," Sonic replied. "Apparently it was awoken by us coming here."


	13. Chapter 11: How puzzling

Sonic started running around trying to find something to help this situation. "Check inside the desk I happen to know she keeps a bunch of scrolls from their princess there also something that seems the equivalent of a newspaper is in there." Shadow advised Sonic as he calmly picked up a random book 'The Legend of Nightmare Moon.' Shadow remembered this from Twilight saying why Chaos magic was forbidden. "Lets see, blah blah blah, two sisters, one sun one moon, blah blah blah, one became remorseful, blah blah, turned into Nightmare Moon, blah blah blah, big sister used Elements of Harmony to seal her in the moon. Huh. Elements..." He pulled down another book 'The Elements of Harmony, a Reference Guide' Shadow noted that the older the books were, the less silly their names were, "Elements, Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty- Huh something is inscribed here, Magic."

"Wait I saw those before." said Sonic, "One one of those papers that looked more like a newspaper. Ah ha! It reads: After Nightmare Moon's return six ponies set out to find the elements. They were found and Nightmare Moon was destroyed leaving princess luna behind- Luna? I thought there was only Celestia and after this it gets a bit more like it was written by Twilight.- The Ponies names and elements were as follows:  
>Honesty Kindness Laughter Generosity Loyalty LMagic-"<p>

"LMagic? She must mean light magic. But nothing else says that magic was divided." commented Shadow.

"Its even more astounding once you read further!" Sonic stuttered, "The corresponding ponies in that order are, Applejack Fluttersh-"

"You are reading that wrong look it says Applejack, Flut-tershy... Pin-ky-Pie... Rar-i-ty... Ra-in-bo-w-D-a-s-h... a-n-d-" Shadow stuttered not believing his eyes. The six ponies they met were the six elements. Of all the luck! Sonic turned the paper around, "It looks like Twilight wrote something on the back: I have come to see that the magic element is divided into two parts, Dark and Light, Neither triggered by evil but only by those who do good with their magic. I would have not noticed if the pony who wields that element seems to have appeared. He wasn't around until... around a month ago. I have no idea who or where he is. Here is the point: If someone lost complete control of their dark magic, Nightmare Moon for example, The Light Magic will be the final element. If someone became evil with the light magic then the dark magic element would arise. This completely disproves the Chaos Theory which, although fundamentally it is sound, it does not always work out. Also if a being is stronger than magic much more than just one side will be needed. Both will be. I think."

"I'm a bit worried that the thing is a bit over our heads." said Sonic. At this time they heard a book slam behind them. Twilight apparently had been awake and heard them talk. "Yes, IT will be. But when IT is summoned a prophecy shows a plan how to stop IT. Bring your friends and the other elements." Twilight said. Sonic and shadow nodded and took off. Sonic got the ones on the outskirts of town while Shadow got the rest.

They regrouped and Twilight began, "A monster has awoken... And it will destroy the universe. Thats pretty much all we have to go by." Fluttershy fainted at this and Cream screamed and hid. Twilight woke up Fluttershy before continuing. "Now an ancient riddle is all we have to go by to save ourselves. Here it is:

When the eater of worlds is awake,  
>There is but one path to take<p>

Two must be found to start  
>To power the sealing to give all life.<br>First the light that shines in the dark  
>And then the dark made by the light.<p>

Another two must guard the dual source  
>Of the power given to the other<br>One that at defense takes no remorse  
>One who acts like the ground's mother<p>

Six more must channel the beam  
>But two colors must take the charge<br>One of all one like the stream  
>To vanquish the foe no matter how large."<p>

The others stood in silence. Before Rainbow Dash said, "You have got to be kidding us."

"Unfortunately Rainbow I am not in the slightest." Twilight sighed, "I have no idea what it means either."

And for a while they sat there before Spike, who had woken up just before they started this crazy plot, said, "The first set seems to be about names or symbols, the second about character, the third about appearance. Can I go back to bed now that I solved your stupid riddle?" All eyes turned to him in astonishment. "What?" he asked.


	14. Chapter 12: The quest begins

Rainbow Dash was surprised at the Spike's knowledge. But then again he was Twilight's assistant and he had actually had some healthy sleep in the past 24 hours. Twilight facehoofed. "Why didn't I think of that?" she muttered. Pinkie Pie jumped up shouting "Hey now that we know what to do we should throw a PARTY!"

"Look Ms. Hyper," Rouge said, "We got the formula but we have no idea what it means. And that doesn't help us much."

Twilight already had it covered. She was grabbing a few bags off a shelf. "Rarity, you keep the thief out of mischief." she said.

"HEY" Rouge yelled.

Twilight continued, "Tails, find a place where we can do dangerous magic without harming the environment. Fluttershy and Cream, go with him to keep the animals away. Pinky and Amy, bake stuff that we could use as we may be out swapping between worlds for a while. Applejack and Knuckles, Stop fighting for 3 seconds and think up fits to the riddle. Sonic, You will be coming with me to Celestia's palace. Rainbow Dash and Shadow, go to Luna and Zecora, I'll draw up a map."

"Wait," objected Shadow, "Since when did YOU take command?"

"I know more. Plus you cant do much." Twilight said. Her horn started glowing and so did Shadow and Rainbow Dash. "There if you get 100 meters away from Rainbow Dash you will freeze." She said. as she started drawing the map marking Zecora's place.

"I thought Luna would be in the palace?" Rainbow dash said.

"No, she is overseeing the rebuilding of the temple. She wants to make it her own palace." Said Twilight, finishing the crude map and putting the last book in the bags. "Me and Sonic will be walking. NO running Sonic, I'm nowhere near as fast as you." Sonic was a bit disappointed but smiled at him being called fast. "Everyone understand? Good. HEAD OUT!" Twilight said. And everyone did so. Rainbow Dash was a bit annoyed at the commanding attitude but she knew that she wasn't the only one. Shadow looked more stern than ever walking into the Everfree. 'If only I could know whats going through this pony's mind' she thought.


	15. Interlude 3: Evening sun

Sunset Sky stepped into the palace halls. A meeting was to be held so she was not in Luna's palace but in Canterlot. Luna was waiting for her. "Hello Sunset." She said, "Everything well?"

"Fine, the board asked me to read a modern fantasy story, specifically..."

"That book... well it lets you at least tell someone even if they think it is a story."

"Yeah... oh well I got Thunder to cover me for tomorrow. Is Trixie here?"

"Yes I am." The light blue mare said from behind them, "No thanks to those incompetent Pegasi." Ah Trixie. One of the only 2 ponies to successfully cast a anti-aging spell and wake up from it. Also the only red mage in Equestria, next to herself. And really you have to admit she had grown a bit nicer since Twilight first met her. Not to say she wasn't still stuck-up. But she had improved enough to become her co-adviser. "Well I guess we should head in." Luna said as she turned and two guards, one white pegasus and one orange unicorn, turned with her.

As they went in they saw Celestia and two ponies beside her. One was Twilight and the other was a stallion covered in a brown cloak, Shadow. The sisters greeted each other, mother and daughter did the same. Twilight had barely changed from the time the book was set in. Only slightly older as she was 24 before she cast the anti-aging spell on herself by accident. Sunset was a young filly at the time and for 15 years Twilight lay in a magic-induced coma. Sunset herself was raised by Luna until she was 7, she was the one who gave her the nickname 'Comet'. Then Shadow started training her in magic showing both the light and dark sides. At 9 there was talk among the court as Twilight had simply disappeared and noone knew her whereabouts for 5 years. Shadow quickly taught Sunset a shape-shifting spell and she appeared before them as her mother, settling the court. She then worked as her mother until she had woken from her coma. Celestia revealed the scheme and Sunset, now a young mare, was put as Luna's adviser because she had done such a good job as her own. Noone knew her father except the two princesses, Trixie and the older unicorn stallion who acted as Luna's guard. But that was simply due to their involvement. Yes, everyone (excluding the white Pegasus for he had no idea what was up) had some connection to the plight. She chuckled 'Revealing a bit to others, I feel more pressured by the secret now than ever!'

Appleblossom was a bit concerned. Thunder had been standing there staring into space for a while. "You okay sugarcube?" She asked. Thunder seemed to snap out of it. "Uh... I better head off." he said before spreading his wings and taking off. Appleblossom sighed. The Pegasus was fast but absent-minded and tended to be careless. Of course she was one to talk. If there was one thing she inherited from her father through and through was his temper. She was level-headed mostly but she was known for her outbursts of rage. And although you could say her strength was inherited from her parents, she was actually just a athlete. Her temper helped with that. When a tree wouldn't shake that last apple she would buck the tree to pieces. A good workout although it normally got her into trouble. And lets not forget the twentyish times she destroyed the master emerald. It breaks like glass but finding the pieces is a very good workout. And it is normally needed for running away from Knuckles when he finds out. She brushed a bit of dirt off her cutie mark which looked like apples, surprised?, but when you looked closely they were emerald apples. Funny that. Applejack just came out and said that it's around time for her to go to Knuckles. The mare looked just slightly older but as strong as she was during Nightmare Moon's return. She got up and started toward the Everfree. Lightning behind her.

Thunder got to the Wonderbolts training ground just in time. The others were there stretching. Rainbow Dash was talking to a friend who had stopped by to watch the training; Spitfire, the former Wonderbolt leader. Thunder shook her hoof and welcomed her. After a quick chat they started the training. It was standard, along with the group tricks three got a signature maneuver. One twirled into the crowd and pulled up at the last moment, one flew up, free-fell, landed, and seemed to bounce back up at high speeds. Thunder took a page from Rainbow Dash's book and his signature was the hyper speed sprint. He actually touched ground and ran before pulling up which gave him much greater speed (everyone thought it was due to the speed of his descent not his actual running speed). Spitfire was somewhat impressed at all of these. Mission accomplished.

Sunset and Twilight were talking during the meeting between the two sisters and the court. They were in the courtyard and they could see Shadow and the unicorn guard talking over a fountain named "Assassins Blood" due to a event that happened there, in the course of the universe travelers plight. An assassin was once after Luna. She was saved by the work of one guard, one mysterious attacker held off the assassin from killing the others and the final killed the assassin with one, swift blow. The two who were in the courtyard had washed off the blood in that fountain. It was one of the only recognized stories involving one of the universe travelers. Of course that part wasn't mentioned. It showed, on top, the assassin with a wound in his side and that was where the water came from. One was flying above him with the sword in her mouth. One had another sword and Luna was beside him. And the other was a cloaked unicorn figure charging his horn. Both of the latter were standing guard. It was a beautiful scene.

Twilight though how she really would have never guessed this point in her life. When she became Celestia's adviser two years after the incident she thought that would be where she would stay. She looked around and thought that everybody that had a part in this escapade was affected for better or worse. And that all have the burden of the secret. All because she dragged them into it. Starting with the trek to Canterlot when she divided the party. That became the point where everything went wrong.


	16. Chapter 13: Into the woods

NOTE: This chapter introduces Marnax. A character that will re-occur. But I did not make him. Me and another fan-fiction author worked together.

go to google docs and insert the following:

/document/d/_j2YIrcItxeHbI/edit?authkey=CIn9pMoL&hl=en_US&pli=1#

Is where you can see Marnax's story. Thank you.

* * *

><p>Knuckles and Applejack walked off. Thought for about 5 seconds. Said, "You fit number 2 description." and started fighting each other again now that their work was done.<p>

Rarity And Rouge watched the two ponies knowing that they would get pretty much nothing done. Then they started brainstorming ideas.

Pinky Pie... started singing what else? Amy rolled her eyes and kept walking.

Fluttershy, Cream and Tails were a bit more productive. By the evening they had done what was needed and were playing tic-tac-toe. The others wouldn't get back till tomorrow.

Rainbow Dash and Shadow were walking through the Everfree forest. It wasn't long before the found the cliff that was destroyed. "Now what?" Shadow asked.

"Well the fastest way there is down here." Rainbow Dash replied. Shadow went down the place of the rockslide. Rainbow Dash followed him until they got to the edge. "Go down." He said. Rainbow dash complied and Shadow jumped off the cliff. Rainbow dash thought the black stallion was out of his mind. When he landed a sharp "UGH" was given and dust was kicked up everywhere. When it settled Shadow was standing and brushing it off himself. Rainbow dash hovered in awe. "I've survived a fall from space I think that won't kill me." he said when he noticed the expression. But then his face turned to a expression Rainbow Dash never saw in him. Fear. She finally saw what caught his eye. A manticore who looked like he knew Shadow and didn't think too fondly of him. The black stallion gave a smile. "Come at me bro." And the manticore did. He charged at full fury and Shadow hopped on it's back. He then jammed his horn into the manticore's back and gave a humongous magic blast . The manticore dropped like a stone. It hadn't caused a wound but had knocked him out. Rainbow Dash felt a little sorry for the beast till he heard, "That was for nearly killing me." coming from Shadow. Rainbow Dash couldn't believe this was the same pony who was carving wood in a tree for a month. Then again that wold be mocking the tree. Shadow saw her expression again. "There is a reason I'm called the ultimate life form. Now close your mouth before some other creature flies in."

After a large amount of walking (and intense silence) Rainbow Dash could barely put up with it anymore. She had to say something. "So how is it with you and your girlfriend?" She asked mockingly.

"I really have no idea what you are talking about." Shadow answered calmly

"Oh come ON you have been spending SOOO much time with Twilight."

"If you haven't noticed I barely have a choice. She kinda had me imprisoned in her house." Rainbow Dash knew she wasn't getting a reaction. "You and Sonic on the other hand." Shadow continued smiling a bit.

"Eh you read into things too much. Besides he's too competitive."

"And you aren't? If I am not wrong you two are, well, exactly the same."

"And you and Twilight aren't?"

"We are opposites. In pretty much every way." Said Twilight to Sonic, the two were having a remarkably similar conversation.

"Oh, come on, Twilight you know you like him." Sonic chuckled

"Yeah, sure, whatever." she said. Sonic could tell something was wrong with her when she suddenly stumbled, fell and didn't come up. "Heh she really needs the sleep." he said as he loaded her onto his back, used the bags as straps and started running. Much better. Although Twilight was a bit heavy. He had strength to spare but he was a bit bogged down. Running up a mountain with a older filly on your back isn't the easiest task. He wasn't used to it.

Rainbow Dash and Shadow were just past the river and bridge when the temple was in view. A deep orange unicorn with a sword as a cutie mark and arrayed in royal armor stopped them. "Halt you two, who goes there?"

"Me and this is someone who needs to see Luna."

The guard stared for a second through the fog and finally made out Rainbow Dash. "Oh hi, Rainbow Dash, I was concerned about your friend there." when he got a full glimpse of Shadow he was afraid again. "Umm, Rainbow Dash, Are you sure this guy is on the up-n-up?" The guard asked.

"Marnax, I would know if he wasn't. Plus a restraining spell was cast on him. He can only move when I'm around."

"Okay you and your boyfriend can go." Marnax chuckled. He caught their fiery glances. "What? it was just a joke."

"Uh-huh."


	17. Chapter 14: Swift as a Shadow

Shadow, Rainbow Dash and Marnax walked toward the ruins. He said that tomorrow he would be meeting in a formal dinner in the palace. As they approached the ruins to Rainbow Dash it looked no different that when she had come here with the others to get the elements. The last thing they wanted then was a meeting with Nightmare Moon. Now, they needed just that. "It looks like Luna hasn't fixed up the place much." she said to Marnax.

"That's because you haven't seen Luna's throne room. It's almost as beautiful as Lu-... *Sigh*"

"Heh coming from the person who just joked that me and Shadow here are in a relationship." She laughed

"And that is coming from the person who accused me and Twilight being in one. Even though you are falling head over wings for Sonic" Shadow stated chuckling.

"Touché. Accusing gets you nowhere. You need either the person in a stupor when you mention his/her name." Rainbow Dash pointed her hoof at Marnax. "Or you need witnesses that agree one hundred percent."

Marnax shook himself, "Here we are. Just the door... where is my key... ah!" He inserted the key and the door swung open to reveal a black and indigo room that was dazzling. In a different way than Celestia's palace. Luna was at a table doing quick calculations to the plans for the temple. Her abacus was blazing. No, literally she was going so fast her abacus kept catching on fire. She stopped and turned. She noticed Shadow and told Marnax to step outside for a moment. After Marnax did so she began, "I sense a large amount of black magic coming from you. And I can tell you sense it coming from me. You are not used to it because you think you are the only one." Shadow nodded at this. "I guess that is why you are here, I don't want to be rude but if you want protection you are not going to get it."

"Look I'm not here for that. I need your help. Twilight Sparkle, your sister's student and the element of magic, said that you could help us. Touch your horn and give energy to this." He held the emerald out.

"I'm not dumb. This seems like a trap." Luna said, "I notice that you have the element of loyalty beside you but I don't trust that."

"Rainbow Dash, fly outside for a moment." Shadow ordered. She looked puzzled but she did. Next thing Luna saw was Shadow wincing and falling to the ground unable to move. "Come back now. I trust you can use that." Rainbow Dash came in to see Shadow getting up. She knew what he was proving. "Fine, and run, run like the wind. I'm afraid I'm commanded by law to send my men after you." She gave the energy to the chaos emerald and it surged with the power of the two worlds, although similar were very very different. Shadow bowed and so did Rainbow Dash before they started galloping.

Marnax motioned for them to come to him. He had overheard the last parts of the conversation. "Sorry but if any nobles catch word they will have our heads. My comrades are fast you will need flight to get away. Unicorn guards are taught proficiently in how to cast crude wing spells. I can try it on you." He said before his horn lit up and on Shadow were some wings that, if nothing else, worked for a short time. "This will last around 10 minutes so GO!" he said before sounding the alarm.

Shadow took off to a tree and proceeded to jump from tree to tree, gliding where necessary. The guards were following them by now but nowhere near as fast. Rainbow Dash wondered if the phrase 'Swift as a shadow' by William Sneighspear was made for him. She could go faster but that would be fatal for Shadow. The chasm approached when Rainbow Dash got a idea. She called for the black stallion to jump onto the bridge and spread his wings. He did so and Rainbow Dash went under and smacked him up. The wings were flimsy, but as sharp as a razor blades, because thats what they were used for, and cut the bridge in half when Shadow sailed through the ropes. The pegasi were not hindered but the earth ponies stopped and gave up the chase while the unicorns used the wings spell which slowed them down a bit.

Shadow noticed the river when they got there and thought of ways to use it. He remembered that Rainbow Dash said a serpent lived in there so as he jumped over he yelled, "HEY ANYONE THERE?" The serpent, his name was Steven, lifted his head and neck to see what was going on when a bunch of the pegasi ran into his neck. He caught them and placed them on the ground. The unicorns, who had caught up, simply avoided him altogether. and jumped over the river after the two.

Shadow scattered the magic into the trees of the dark part in the forest which lit them up, giving a similar effect that Nightmare Moon used to slow down the six travelers. Rainbow Dash at this point realized that Shadow was just using variations on Nightmare's tricks. Great, somewhat evil, minds think alike. Some of the older guards went on chasing the two escapees while others slowed down at the sight. Shadow was confident that the cliff would shake the final guards when he remembered the manticore. He was most likely up by now and would be dead set on killing him. Why couldn't he have learned from Fluttershy and just have tried to make peace with the stupid thing? He then got a idea. When it was in sight he fired a chaos spear into the horn of the nearest unicorn guard. It reflected off and hit the beast. It hollered in pain and saw the "attacker" distracting it from Shadow. The black stallion jumped, tried to get up the mountain when his wings gave. He was falling into the hooves of the guards and the manticore without enough time to use chaos control. He then got a final idea. He fired a bolt of magic into the mountainside, causing ANOTHER rockslide. He then jumped on a piece of debris and used telekinesis to hold himself there. Then he hopped his way up to Rainbow Dash who was waiting on the top. The guards got away, knowing that they had been beaten but the manticore wasn't so lucky. He had been buried under a pile of rocks and was most likely dead. Shadow looked back and saw Luna and Marnax who both nodded. Rainbow Dash did not believe her eyes. She did NOT want to be on this pony's bad side. But she saw a bit of regret in his face as he trotted on.


	18. Chapter 15: Base jumping

Sonic got to the city. He was about to enter when he realized that if he walked through that city right now with Twilight on his back he would be arrested. Sonic wasn't very good at planning but he thought he struck gold when he saw the balcony of the royal chambers were facing the mountain. He started scaling the mountain and reached the top with little difficulty. He suddenly heard a groan coming from behind him. Twilight had come to. "Twi, you should have stayed asleep." he said, stirring the exhausted filly on his back.

"Wh- where am I? Son-" she managed to blurt out before he jumped off the mountain. She thought that the blue colt had lost his mind. He then fell dangerously close to the edge and started running on it. He was having a bit of trouble breathing but that was mainly because Twilight had a death grip on his neck. At the last moment he jumped and landed on Celestia's balcony.

Celestia heard a deafening THUD coming from her balcony. She ran up followed by guards only to find a blue colt and on his back was... is that Twilight? She looked like she had fallen off a... Celestia looked up and saw the imprints of hooves on the mountainside. "Are you two crazy?" she laughed.

"Nah falling from high places doesn't hurt me." the colt said.

"But what about Twilight?"

"Her own fault for waking up right as I jumped. Fainted in the middle of the road and I couldn't walk through town with your student on my back, unconscious."

Celestia laughed harder, "What are you, her coltfreind?"

Sonic laughed as well and Twilight, still with a grip that would kill a dragon gave a evil stare at Celestia. "Very funny your highness, would I date a lunatic who jumps off cliffs?"

"Yes." Celestia said calmly. Reminding Twilight of a certain colt she was in love with once who was a base jumper. Broke up really quickly because he kept trying to get her to do it. Sonic laughed harder at the filly on her back who was red with embarrassment. "I bet you were no different, Sonic." Twilight muttered.

"Actually I never had one." He muttered back. Twilight finally fully came to and realized she was still on his back. She became even more embarrassed and jumped off. Celestia laughed even harder. "Why are you here?" Celestia finally said.

"To ask for leave of... anywhere from a week to a month."

"That's a long leave, Twilight. Where are you going?"

"You don't want to know. I don't know much either."

"That seems foolhardy."

"I have seven guides even when one is incompetent." she pointed at Sonic who snickered.

"That's it?" Celestia asked.

"Oh and I need a bit of magic put into this." She got out a gemstone that looked similar to a chaos emerald. Sonic recognized it as a fake emerald. Celestia pondered for a second and did as requested. The emerald sparkled and surged with power. "And that did what?" She asked.

"I really have no idea but... a friend. Slipped me it and told me to do that." Twilight said. She bowed, turned to walk out before Sonic ran under her and picked her up. "What the hay?" she yelled

"No offense Twi but you walk too slowly." Sonic said as he turned and started running UP the cliff. Celestia looked for a second and started laughing again.


	19. Chapter 16: Black on white

Shadow and Rainbow dash kept running. They had shaken the guards for a time but they weren't free. Twilight had instructed Shadow to go to Zecora's house to get a salve that she had written down. They kept running till they got to the poison joke patch. "Be careful," Rainbow dash yelled, "The blue flowers will poison you in strange ways."

"Like?" Shadow asked cautiously.

"Horn becoming saggy, loss of stability, diminutive size, mane and pelt becoming giant bundles of hair, voice changing to opposite gender, tongue sagging out of mouth to name six ways out of a million." She said back. Shadow jumped but then got a idea. He used the telekinesis powers to grab the flowers and tore them into tiny pieces. He then crushed them until they were like powder. Then he tossed them in every direction to hit the guards. It wouldn't hurt them but would knock a few out of commission later on. Rainbow dash was impressed at the black and red stallion's ingenuity. The two walked up to Zecora's home. Even though Rainbow Dash knew it was perfectly safe it was as spooky as anything.

Shadow walked up and knocked on the door. It startled Zecora but she came. "Who, might I ask are you? Is it possible you are new?"

"Shadow is the name of mine, And why did you answer in rhyme?" Shadow said, smugly.

"Cheeky little pony indeed, Now, may I say, what do you need?" Zecora said with a chuckle

"This." said Shadow as he gives Zecora the salve Twilight needed.

"A salve that will relive any nerve, What purpose does this serve?"

"I don't know but we are doing some universe traveling so it could be anything" Rainbow Dash said.

Zecora reeled back like from shock. "No, no a salve will not do. You will need magic as olden ponies knew."

Shadow looked perplexed "Old magic?"

"Yes the story of Equestria is riddled with it. Would you like to hear that bit?" She asked. Shadow and Rainbow dash started listening.

Thousands and thousands of years ago there was only four ponies. A mother and her three daughters, Luna, Celestia and Equestria. All were alicorns. There was no ground just them floating in space. Then the mother one day died and from her body arose the world, the sun and moon. Luna and Celestia were put over the moon and sun and Equestria was put over the world. The world suddenly began to create two ponies, a mare and stallion. They had children and their children did and so on. And it was good. All were earth ponies as there were no pegasus or unicorns. Earth ponies learned how to use earth magic. Before Equestria died and gave unicorns and pegasus life. Celestia and Luna named the world after her. Earth magic all but died out but Zecora learned some of it.

"Wow" said Shadow and Rainbow Dash. Shadow was rarely impressed.

Zecora said that they would need a magical potion that would make people think they weren't gone. It would make them appear as if they were still around doing normal buisness. Shadow agreed and Zecora started the magic. Now, Twilight thought that hex's and stuff were a old pony tale. Guess what. This potion brewing would tear holes one by one in every comment she had. Shadow finally got the vial of the stuff and drank it. He felt odd and then thought of all the people to duplicate. When Shadow was done he thanked Zecora and turned to leave. Rainbow dash worried about the sudden departure. Shadow quickly stopped and turned around. A chaos emerald was on a shelf. "Where did you get that?" he asked nervously.

"What, my friend, the sparkling gem? It appeared a month ago outside my haven."

Shadow knew the emeralds were around. One more thing to do. But not now. He asked for it as it was vital and Zecora gave it with no cost when he showed the other and the power it held. Rainbow Dash noticed the panicked expression that was somewhat relieved after a bit of walking. They looked around and stayed the night in a makeshift hut nearby.


	20. Chapter 17: Regroup and move out

Tails, Fluttershy and cream had found and picked the perfect place for the experiment. It was a small ways off from the Everfree in a large grassland. It had been a day since the four travelers left. They all probably had to stay out the night somewhere They were waiting when, at nearly the same time. Sonic and Shadow appeared with Rainbow Dash and Twilight in tow. Both were running at top speed, for different reasons. Twilight immediately went to Shadow. "Did you get the stuff?"

"I got the emerald with Luna's magic inside it but I didn't get the salve. That seemed more like a errand."

"Ugh please tell me you got SOMETHING."

"Yes" Shadow replied using the telekinesis to hold the emeralds up. "And a potion that let us do this. Copies of us are acting normally."

Twilight facehooved at the potion. "Those don't exist."

"You would be surprised." Shadow smirked while Twilight turned pale.

"N-never mind. What else do we need?" Twilight managed to mutter before she pulled out the book on dimension traveling. "Lets see impart all powers into something else so you can be sure to keep them. We can do that later. You must have a red mage to begin the spell. Red mage? That would be a pony who has power over light and dark magic. There are none."

"First we need to get the emeralds. those would be disastrous if we didn't get them." Shadow interrupted. The others were here by now except Rarity and Knuckles for some reason. Then both of them were careening toward Shadow, horns down... again. He pulled the emeralds in front to stop them. They collided and slumped back. The restrainer on the second emerald was destroyed. Shadow got a smile knowing those two could find the emeralds. "Problem solved"

"Okay the red mage thing is more urgent." Twilight said. "Also, Applejack, did you and Knuckles figure the riddle out?" Applejack blushed in shame as did Knuckles.

"We did." A voice said from the air. Rouge touched down. "Me and Rarity figured it."

"Great what is it?" Twilight said, excited.

"Well first Twilight what is a 'twilight sparkle'?" Rarity asked becoming unattached from the emerald.

"That would be a star." Twilight said, puzzled.

"Yes, the light that shines in the dark!" Rarity said. Twilight was impressed.

Rouge floated to Shadow, "I bet you could guess the dark made by the light."

"No." Shadow said in a blunt manner.

"Oh come ON Shadow..." Rarity teased. The others started laughing.

"What? I- oh... shadow... ha ha." Shadow facehooved.

"The second verse obviously fit Knuckles and Applejack. They even agreed to it." Rarity continued. "The third talks about physical appearance and it says colors. Now the only one that has all colors here is Rainbow Dash. And good thing too she would hate it if she couldn't take the charge." Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement. "And then the stream is clear or blue. No one is clear so that obviously fits Sonic. so there! we have our 6 others right here to channel the beam. Now we could be awfully wrong but that would be unlikely right darling?"

"But-" Twilight was about to say when Shadow's horn started acting up. A voice protruded. Marnax. "Shadow? Finally I got your number right."

"Don't I have a unlisted horn?" Shadow asked mockingly.

"Yes but that isn't the point. Look I hope you are on the move because one of the generals sent assassins at you." The others gasped at this thinking that this will end horribly. Shadow thought and replied "Great. And thanks for saving our lives."

"Don't mention it. You did a good job of your own back there." Marnax said before cutting the connection. Twilight looked like she wanted to hear the story, but Shadow shook his head.

"Anyways..." Twilight began with a sigh. "We need that mage. Not just someone who could make a cloud." Twilight at this conjured one, "But someone who can make it strike." Shadow did as she showed and Rainbow Dash flew up in excitement.

"I know the filly to help. We have to act quickly so do whatever you need. Sonic, follow me. We have a boaster to find!" She said before taking off at top speed. Twilight wondered what she meant.


	21. Chapter 18: Rainboom take all

Note: Sonic vs Rainbow Dash race. Taste the double rainbow.

* * *

><p>The two racing ponies started off at full throttle toward the direction Rainbow Dash had said. They were at the same pace when a rocky mountain pass followed by another mountain appeared in front of them. At this Rainbow dash looked over at Sonic and nodded. They both were thinking the same thing. A full race at top speed. They took off Sonic as leader due to his acceleration but he began to lose the pace later and Rainbow dash pulled up.<p>

The rocky pass came up. Rainbow dash knew that in the interest of fair sport (That didn't matter usually but she felt that it would be the best thing to do) she would have to fly low. She and Sonic were neck and neck when Sonic did something very very strange. He grabbed a sharp rock, turned around, and cut half of his tail off. He then sped up even more. Rainbow dash didn't know why he did that. Maybe so his tail wouldn't be caught on something?

Then the blue colt did something she didn't believe. He galloped up the side of the mountain pass and started running on the side. He slowed but then she saw why. Large rocks were coming up. She started turning and ducking every which way while he kept galloping. She turned to the side and started flying alongside him. It was a bit nauseating.

Rainbow dash began to notice the resistance. It was forming around her, and Sonic. They came out of the pass and into a plain. Rainbow dash flew up and Sonic started charging ahead. Sonic looked like he was having trouble. He was much less aerodynamic with the pony body instead of his hedgehog body as normal. He put his head down.

The mountain was approaching. Sonic just sped on having no regards to the path straight up. Rainbow Dash kept flying up and up before they reached the top. Instead of the other side here was a cliff... Sonic looked determined and he started galloping DOWN the cliff. Rainbow dash sped toward the ground.

The air was whipping her mane everywhere and she couldn't take it much. The resistance became more and more. Sonic looked unfazed even though he was pretty much falling at high speeds. That is when Rainbow dash noticed the large rock in front of where Sonic was going to run out. He seemed to notice and charged ahead. Rainbow dash gave up looking and flew. The wind was so fierce it seemed like it could tear her mane off, Then her head. She felt it grow stronger and stronger until... BANG BANG. FLASH BLUR. Two sonic rainbooms occurred. It was a sight that would bring tears to the eyes of any forester. And cause a heart attack to a certain one.

She opened her eyes just in time to pull up... Right alongside Sonic. She looked back and saw that the rock had been obliterated by the force of the wind and Sonic's speed. His rainboom acted upon his body differently. It was leaving rainbow duplicates of himself behind him. The color blue was also more pronounced. Sonic looked extremely surprised as if he expected something different.

Knuckles and Rarity saw the two rainbows. The colors seemed to outshine the emeralds they had before them. It was very easy to find the emeralds with the two's powers and they were heading back.

Shadow looked out and, while recognizing the sound as one that jobs were probably not getting done, felt at peace with the strange rainbow created.

Twilight and the rest, who were all working on the preparations, saw them and knew what happened, even though they couldn't exactly know what was happening. They figured some race was going on.

Sonic felt odd. This was not like the sonic booms he always did. It alleviated him of pressure instead of creating it. He noticed the rainbow coming from Rainbow dash and noticed his own. The next thing he noticed was that they were right next to each other, galloping straight at a crowd and a strange stage. And they couldn't stop.

SMASH. A tie they think. Although one that ended quite suddenly.


	22. Chapter 19: Assassin's speed

Note: Violence

* * *

><p>Sonic looked up from where he was lying and saw a crowd of people, wreckage from the stage, and a light blue mare with a white and light blue mane and a sorcerer's hat and cloak. She looked angry. "What business have you in destroying The Great and Powerful Trixie's stand!" she yelled. Then she turned to Rainbow Dash. "You followed me all the way here after half a year? You are slow."<p>

"I'm regretting this already." Rainbow Dash muttered before stood up, "I came here with a challenge." she then said, "One that I would wager is out of your reach with those wimpy illusions."

Trixie got a grin on her face, conjured a cloud and zapped Rainbow Dash, again. Sonic realized what significance that held. She laughed "Learn your lesson. The Great and Powerful Trixie has been studying magic and, trust me, I can do much worse. I just used the illusions because they worked but now I have REAL power."

"Yeah?" Rainbow Dash got out, "You bested me already but me and Sonic can round you up in ten seconds flat."

"Prove it." Trixie said before conjuring a hourglass for ten seconds. She turned it and it was on. Sonic, having little to no idea what was happening, jumped up and sped off to the curtain. Rainbow Dash saw the lead and did the same.

1 second.

Trixie started firing bolts of energy at them. The two blue ponies got the curtain, which was barely holding up, and started twisting it.

2 seconds.

The two saw the bolts and ran off. the curtain got a few holes though. Trixie conjured a cloud.

3 seconds.

Trixie casts multiple lightning bolts. Curtain is on fire. Rainbow dash goes up and makes the cloud rain to extinguish the flames

4 seconds.

Flames extinguished and Rainbow Dash and Sonic get back to twisting it. Trixie tries to teleport.

5 seconds.

Trixie still tries to teleport. The two rolled the curtain sufficiently.

6 seconds.

Rainbow Dash and Sonic charge at Trixie. Trixie teleports behind them.

7 seconds.

Trixie casts a fire spell. Curtain is severely on fire.

8 seconds.

Sonic speeds behind Trixie with one half of the flaming curtain. Trixie flips out.

9 seconds.

Rainbow Dash connects the other flaming half. Trixie is trapped.

10 seconds. TEN SECONDS FLAT

The crowd cheers but a few don't. Two unicorns clothed in black with metal wings and with royal symbols step out. The assassins sent for Shadow. Sonic winces while Trixie and Rainbow Dash look confused. They want the black stallion but this rabble also needs to be taken care of, especially the red mage. Sonic rides under Trixie and catches her on his back. "I recommend you holding on and doing whatever you can to those guys." And takes off. Rainbow Dash in hot pursuit. Trixie screams like high heaven as they charge forward. Then Sonic reminded her to do something about the assassins. The escapees were going fast but the assailants metal wings were propelled by... are those rockets? Sonic thought that technology wasn't accessible! Then he realized they were being powered by magic. Phew.

Trixie fired a few homing spears of energy at them. Their wings deflected them. Rainbow dash looked like she wanted to go faster but Sonic was being bogged down slightly by Trixie. The black-clad unicorns started creating small earthquakes. Rainbow dash noticed that their power is land-based. If only they could get airborne. Wait... "Trixie!" she called

"" Trixie screamed.

"Can you cast a wing spell of any kind?" Rainbow Dash called

"" Trixie yelled back.

"Cast one on Sonic!" She called. Trixie swallowed and tried and tried and tried. The assassins started to charge their horns for some movement. Even though Trixie was deeply concentrated she could recognize the magic they were calling on. They wanted a stalagmite to appear under them, impaling her and the blue colt she was riding on. She tried harder and harder. The wings began to form. Not crude, slashing wings but real feathered Pegasus wings. The assassins lowered their horns to cast the spell. Trixie yelled at Sonic who began flapping his wings. It was odd but it felt like they were always there. They jumped up and... the spell was cast and the stalagmite barely missed them. Sonic was not doing well. He was slowing down rapidly as he didn't know how to fly well. His strong point was running. He touched down and they began again.

The cliff came up. Rainbow dash thought that Sonic would slow down too much flying and they would be caught. She heard him yell to Trixie, "HANG ON FOR DEAR LIFE." and he came to the broken boulder. Rainbow Dash thought he was insane not flapping his wings but then he charged right at the cliff. Rainbow Dash had come to expect odd things from the colt but when he started running up the cliff without any loss in speed she realized just how good he was. Sure he would never be as fast (she had the advantage of flight) but she would like to see him compete in a freegalloping competition. Trixie was less than pleased. She thought she was about to be killed. The assassins looked impressed as well. But to them these ponies were marks. Not opponents.

Then they went down the mountain and into the pass. They had to lose these guys now or never. Rainbow Dash kept looking behind to see the assassins still gliding forward. She was thinking and thinking of a plan. Then she heard Sonic say "TAKE THE POTATO SACK!" Rainbow Dash knew he meant Trixie by the scowl on her face. She glided beside them and Trixie slid to her back. Trixie was pretty heavy and even Rainbow Dash had carried three Wonderbolts and Rarity at once. Sonic then fell back a bit and looked. The rocks in this pass were coming up. he waited till they were almost there when he fell back, wings up, to the chasers. The metal wings were as sharp as swords and cut the wings clean off. Blood poured from Sonic's body as he yelled in pain. The assassins lost balance and crashed into the rocks, out cold. Rainbow Dash saw Sonic bleeding to death. The bone was flapping and the skin was flying everyplace and the blood was like a fountain. The cliff was being stained with red, feathers floating everywhere, blue hide scattered and bone fragments. She yelled at Trixie to take the wings off quickly. Trixie was a bit shocked and took some time to do this. By then Sonic wasn't galloping but merely trotting at a fast pace before the wings disappeared and they exited the pass. He then collapsed, near death.


	23. Chapter 20: Moonlight Shadow

Shadow was looking in the direction that Rainbow Dash and Sonic had gone. It had been many many hours. He waited and waited before he saw a very very light blue unicorn mare run forward followed by Rainbow Dash and a bloody Sonic on her back. Shadow wondered what was happening when the blue pegasus filly dashed ahead to Shadow and lay down the unconscious colt. "The assassins sent for you found us."

"There are no wounds." Shadow said calmly after looking.

"Yes. I had Trixie here," She pointed to the light blue mare, "Create some wings, full-fledged pegasus wings not crude ones, on Sonic. Later he charged back onto the assassins sword-like wings to throw them off balance and hit some rocks. But the wings were cut off and he was pouring with blood. We took them off and the bleeding stopped but he had already nearly died."

"Heh You just can't kill this guy. One moment." the black stallion said before turning and calling for Twilight. Twilight appeared and saw the scene. She looked sick. When she was about to cast a healing spell Shadow stopped her. He asked if she could do a tracking spell. More likely than not when the assassins crashed at least a little blood was spilled. If Sonic had some on him they could track them. Twilight agreed. She searched all around Sonic's body for blood that isn't his own. They found one part. When they looked in the image projected the assassin was still unconscious but alive. Twilight figured it would be okay to let that one off the hook for now. But what of the other? she searched again. This time another scene appeared. This one was the assassin, no mistaking it to Rainbow Dash and Trixie, but was in servants clothes. Replacing a bottle of wine... they heard him mutter something about killing that traitorous princess. Shadow looked up with Rainbow dash horrified as well. Then they saw him leave. They looked at each other and remembered Marnax. THE DINNER. They looked back to the others before they took off.

Shadow was galloping at a speed rivaling Sonic's own. When he was out for a jog of course if it were racing he would still be left in dust without his hover skates, which were destroyed due to the hooves when he appeared in Equestria. Rainbow Dash knew that it would take a few hours at this rate. Canterlot was a long ways away. And the sun was setting. Rainbow Dash suddenly wondered why, when she and Sonic left, Shadow didn't become paralyzed. She asked him. "For someone so fast you are a bit slow. I severed that bond right after we left. I always could do that. I acted when I sent you away." Shadow said, not slowing down one bit.

Night came and Rainbow Dash knew that they would be too late to get there. Canterlot was right in front of them. The gates were there. But the guards were as well. Shadow knew he was the poster colt for "wanted" all over Canterlot. And those guards seemed to know him. He charged, horn down at the guards and jumped above them. The wings on the pegasi were as sharp as swords and were swinging at Shadow over and over. Shadow eventually caught them both with a blast to knock them out. Then they charged.

The dinner had started. Marnax was having a pretty good time. At first there was mostly idle conversation, with various stories and jokes. It quickly turned to politics, and Marnax got involved very swiftly. "Why should we relax trade regulations with you?" asked Celestia.

"Well-" Tayet, the prince of Rumentia's (the country Celestia and Luna were trading with and the country the goats are from) mother by adoption, started, but Marnax, who was the prince's uncle, interrupted. "You should do that because Rumentia is Equestria's biggest trading partner, and ceasing trade would wreck both economies." Celestia smiled, and looked at him. "Sorry, your majesty."

"It's alright." she replied.

The rest of the dinner proceeded through the night, until Tinkerbell, the prince, spoke up. "Can we have wine now?"

"Of course." replied Celestia. She called over a servant, and spoke to him for a second. He nodded, and headed for the wine cellar. A few moments later, he returned with a bottle, which was promptly opened, and glasses filled with it. Marnax frowned at his glass. 'Hmm, there's something not quite right.' He quietly waited a second. Tinkerbell blinked, looked tired, and collapsed onto the table.

Shadow had drawn the attention of the guards by now. They were running at top speed but the pegasi and unicorns were fast. Shadow kept having to fire bolts, One got close enough to give him a cut to the leg. It was bleeding badly but he charged on.

Marnax cast a web of magic over his glass of wine, and it glowed a deep crimson. "Don't drink the wine! It's drugged!" he yelled, only for Tayet to collapse. He jumped to his hooves, and looked around in a hurry. He saw a shadow flit away from a door. He ran out past the servant. "Get a doctor for them, hurry!" he yelled at the servant. He ran down the hall after the shadow. He summoned his sword, and thrust it into the figure, which dissipated. A decoy. 'But why-' Realization came to him.

Shadow felt a bit envious. By now Marnax had his hands full with one assassin probably. He had the entire Canterlot guard after him. He had lost sight of Rainbow Dash by now. But he was running for the castle tower at top speed so he didn't mind as much as he should have.

Marnax ran back to the dining hall with every ounce of strength he could spare. He burst in, to find the servant glowing darkly and bending over the unconscious Luna. "DON'T TOUCH HER!" he yelled, as he tackled him. The servant threw him off with unnatural strength, and drew a sword of his own. They battled furiously, swords sending up sparks with every crash of blades.

Shadow finally got to a hiding place before he came out and fired a chaos lance at them. It wasn't to kill but simply stun. A good portion slumped down before Shadow got back into hiding. So close to the castle. He say Rainbow Dash flying near it.

Marnax drew the crazed servant out of the room carefully, and they fought furiously until they were dueling on the castle walls, when Marnax swiftly disarmed hi opponent. "It's over. You lost, and Luna will be fine."

Shadow saw the duel. And he also saw the expression in the assassins face. "NO!"

The servant looked at him silently, and charged Marnax, knocking them both off the side of the castle, and off the mountain. The wind blew past him as they tried to create wings, but he was unable to focus.

Shadow rushed forward but Rainbow Dash was going to catch Marnax. The assassin looked like he was deploying some metallic wings. Not on my watch. Because the guards were focused on their comrades. He rushed forward and was about to get that assassin.

'So this is how it ends. Saving Luna, Celestia, and part of my family. Not a bad way to die. I hope Tayet remembers how I want my funera-' Suddenly, a colorful blur slammed into Marnax, as a second, darker shape grabbed the servant. Everything went dark.

Rainbow Dash had become separated from Shadow. She looked around and decided to go near the castle. When the two swordsmen came out she watched and was about to charge the assailant when he charged Marnax. She rushed over to get him as Shadow went for the assassin. She brought him up but realized that Luna and Marnax were witnesses and had to be taken somewhere no one would know. She flew over and slipped the unconscious princess on her back. Then flew for Marnax's chambers. Shadow was down with the assassin.

Shadow tackled the assassin. "I guess I'm your mark. Stop trying to kill different marks." he said. He was cut in a different leg by the sword wings. The assailant turned. He saw Shadow who had just picked up his sword and was charging. He deflected the blow and shot a blast of chaos energy at him. 'Black mage vs black mage' Shadow though. He then fired his own bolts. Not regarding what power they were. His legs were pouring blood but he continued fighting until he slipped on a slick of his own blood and fell. The assassin was on top of him immediately and had his wings facing down. Then, nearly from nowhere, Rainbow dash came with Marnax's sword in mouth and sliced the assassin. the blood coated the three as the stallion looked at the pony he was chasing earlier today deliver the killing blow. Shadow looked up and saw all the blood and gore, the skin, the bones all over. When Shadow looked he noticed where she had cut the guard. She had cut him right where the left wing was. "That was for Sonic." she said before driving the sword into the assailant's side. The courtyard was a bloody mess. Rainbow dash and Shadow passed through the fountain in the courtyard to clean off before going to see how Marnax and Luna were.

By now Luna was awake. When she saw the two come in she looked and said, "What are you two doing here? What happened?"

"You highness" Shadow answered, "That servant of yours was a assassin sent to kill me. He must have caught wind of you helping me. Rainbow Dash here says that the wine was before you like it had been drugged. Marnax hadn't taken his. He went after the servant, saving you but was pushed off the castle walls by the assailant. Your guards didn't come because they were occupied chasing me. Rainbow dash saved him and brought you two here. She then grabbed Marnax's sword and killed the assassin."

"Oh... thank you I am glad. But the two from Rumentia?"

"They should wake up soon." Rainbow Dash said. "I'll take them to their castle." She said before she dashed off.

"I guess we are even." Luna continued.

"Agreed even though this put our mission in jeopardy." Shadow said a bit coldly.

"Well..." Luna said, looking at Marnax. "He likes me doesn't he?"

"That's a bit of a understatement if you ask me." Shadow said a bit jokingly. Ever since he got here to Equestria he had been lightening up. Less plots to destroy the world perhaps?

After a while Rainbow Dash came back, "Tayet and the prince stupy the fourteenth are in their castle. I did nearly kick Tinkerbell in the face. When he woke up he tried to hit on me! Can you believe it?" Shadow chuckled a bit.

It could have been a hour later, or a century, Marnax couldn't tell, when he awoke in bed. Every muscle in his body ached. The first thing he did was look to the side. "Good, no alternate female version of me this time."

"You're awake!" He noticed something above him.

"LUNA!" he cried.

"You saved us." said Luna.

"Yes, well just doing my job." He noticed Rainbow Dash and Shadow. "You caught us?"

"Yeah, don't do that again, you were lucky we already owed you." Shadow said a bit mockingly.

"Heh, I guess you're right." Marnax got a concerned look on his face. "The assassin?"

"Dead." Shadow replied

"Tayet and Tinkerbell?"

"Waiting in their castle."

"Alright. Now, if you don't mind I think I'm going to pass out again..." He fell asleep again, murmuring "So beautiful..." as he did so. Luna smiled weakly as a blush spread over her face. Shadow and Rainbow Dash smiled before saying farewell and heading back to the others


	24. Chapter 21: Down the rabbit hole

Note: Going through a setting change here. This is mainly to introduce what each pony is like in the other world. We won't stay too long. We will return to the pony universe shortly...

* * *

><p>Twilight looked out and bit her lip. It was morning and there was no sign of Rainbow Dash or Shadow. She and Tails were waiting at the site where everpony else was sleeping. Tails had finally worked out how to select items so that certain powers would be stored. It started with two odd rings that Rarity and Tails had designed for Fluttershy's hooves. They had taken a feather from each wing and put them in the ring. The pegasi had something at least to use, even though Rainbow Dash's hadn't been tested. She and Rarity would have to make use of the light emeralds Tails had made. He was smart for a colt.<p>

Twilight began thinking about the forms the ponies' bodies would take. If hedgehogs and foxes and the like turn into ponies here what would a pony turn into there? She brushed it aside and she finally caught a glimpse of something colorful coming down the path. She chuckled. Rainbow Dash was carrying someone again. That pony just couldn't get around fast enough. As they approached it became clear that they had been in some fight. There were specks of blood on the pegasus' face. Shadow looked like he had been cut in the legs. It was a open wound and was still bleeding a bit. Rainbow Dash landed and let Shadow off, who promptly sat down. "Any excitement?" Twilight asked. A bit squeamish.

"Nah, basic stuff. Being chased by guards, saving royalty, killing assassins the usual trip to a town." Shadow replied mockingly. Tails was by him already cleaning the wounds and the blood on Rainbow Dash's face and back. Twilight started healing the wounds. Rainbow Dash looked around. "How's Sonic?" she asked.

"Fine. Fine. When I told him to wait till this morning to go out for a jog he was a bit frustrated." Twilight chuckled.

Tails got the rings for Rainbow Dash. The feathers were good and the rings lit up. They called the others. Sonic came first and asked how it went followed by the rest. Knuckles and Rarity were going a bit slowly due to being tired. They had a scuffle with that manticore Shadow killed's mate. That and the exposure to the Chaos energy when they broke the restrainers took a lot of strength from them. Amy, Cream and Rouge all had their belongings on, they didn't want to lose them. Trixie was strutting up to where Twilight had indicated. She looked at the spellbook Twilight had given her with the spell that was needed. Spike was snoring on Applejack's back. Normally Twilight would leave him behind but she didn't know how long they would be gone. "Ponies line up to where I told you." Twilight said.

Trixie was still reading when they finished getting into position. "Hah, This will be no problem for 'The Great and Powerful' Trixie!" She laughed.

"Then cast the spell Great and Powerful Trixie." Shadow said with his words dripping with sarcasm. He then felt a lightning bolt strike his flank. He shot a lightning bolt back at Trixie. She dodged it handily and began charging her horn. It grew and grew. It became so large that it nearly engulfed the entire group before Twilight stepped up and placed a emerald in the center. It sent something back to Trixie and her horn grew more. She was groaning and screaming and was being bogged down by the immense energy. Sonic felt like he was changing a bit. The last thing he heard was Spike saying "Is it morning yet?" before everything went dark.

When he woke up he looked, saw something and fainted again. This happened to Knuckles and Shadow before Amy woke up. She looked and, yes, she was a hedgehog again. When she looked she saw seven unfamiliar figures. She screamed and told them to follow her quickly. Tails woke up right after they had left and looked at his friends. They were all in their original forms. One odd thing was that Spike was still around. He looked like... a young, purple and green dragon. Tails guessed that there was no form parallel for him. They were laying in a field that Tails guessed was somewhere on the south side of Station Square. The roads to the mystic ruins were nearby them. Cream was stirring now. She looked up and saw herself, then the others. She squealed and jumped for joy. Then she looked around and said. "Tails, do you know where Amy, Rouge and the ponies are?"

Tails looked and noticed that no new forms were present. And Amy, along with Rouge, was missing. Then he heard Rouge laughing. She was high in a nearby tree. "Oh it was hilarious. I was one of the first to wake up and I saw it happen. I woke up before the others and saw the odd thing and went up here to see the boy's reactions. Sonic woke up first and saw the newcomers, He fainted flat. Ha ha! Then Shadow and Knuckles woke and did the same. Oh it was so funny! Then Amy came to and took them to her house, but OH," She paused laughing uncontrollably "That was one of the funniest things I saw I my entire life."

"Rouge," Tails popped in, "What was the thing?"

"Ha ha! We had forgotten to give the ponies clothes. The sight knocked them out." Rouge got out. Tails laughed a bit too. It was just something they had forgotten. The ponies didn't wear anything except for formal occasions. And, for some odd reason, in this world men don't have to wear anything. The only reason the three from here had anything on was because they didn't want to lose them. It was a complete oversight.

Tails looked over and tried waking Sonic. He came to fairly quickly. He blushed profusely. Cream tried waking Knuckles while Rouge went to wake up Shadow, "Wake up fainting prince." Rouge snickered. Shadow and Knuckles had much the same reaction. You couldn't notice it much in Knuckles. But it was resonant in Shadow and Sonic who contrasted nicely with the red. They were all silent before they began walking toward Amy's house with Spike, who had just woken up.

They looked and there was Vanilla, Cream's mom, Outside. She rushed forward to greet her daughter and the others. She had been worried sick about Cream since she had been gone over a month. At this Cheese popped out. The chao rushed out to greet it's owner. "Now I kind of feel odd about this other pet I have." Vanilla laughed, out popped Angel. The bunny looked over at the bunch and Spike gave a low growl. The thing had followed him even here. "The new people are in Amy's house. It looked like one was helping Amy redesign a few of her things for them." Vanilla continued, reading the expressions on everyone's face.

Then out came a yellow and pinkish Echidna with two rings on it's hands. It was wearing a pair of baggy pants and a yellow sweater with two holes in the back. Fluttershy. She blushed and gave a slight gasp to the five who had been with her. They looked nothing like the ponies she had met, and yet very very similar. "Wow this world is very different." she said.

"Hello, Fluttershy, do the rings work?" asked Tails, a bit anxious.

"Oh, yes Tails." She said before closing her eyes and concentrating. The rings glowed and two wings appeared through the holes in the sweater. "They are odd, nothing like Pegasus wings." She commented. Vanilla looked puzzled but looked on. Fluttershy took off the wings and started walking forward when she tripped. "Oh, sorry, I'm not used to walking on two legs. Or using these... things on my front hooves." Vanilla looked even more puzzled and turned to the group. But looked back knowing it was probably a long story.

Then came a hedgehog. Sonic thought it was Amy until she opened her mouth. "Oh wow this is great, I mean its so cool, I can jump higher..." Pinky continued. Sonic was amazed at how similar the two looked. The spikes were the only difference. Pinky's had hers flying everyplace. She even wore one of those dresses Amy always did. She chattered on before she skipped off to look at this new world.

Trixie and Applejack came out next. Both were echidnas. (It seemed like it was hip to be one all of a sudden. Maybe it's because echidnas were known for a variety of things.) Trixie was light blue and was wearing a skirt and a short top with a cape behind her. All blue. Sonic figured this was touched up from a different outfit. Applejack was wearing her hat, a shorter top as well as jeans. She took a look at the rest and her jaw dropped. Trixie looked impressed as well. But she was too stuck-up to think about it too long. "Well I'll be. You weren't talking hoey with that hedgehog thing." Applejack said. Sonic smiled and began chatting.

Rainbow Dash came next, wings out, as a light blue hedgehog with a single rainbow stripe down her central spike. She was wearing that outfit Amy had used in the Extreme gear competitions, painted of course to match her. She looked around and laughed. "Man this feels good. I think coming here was a great idea!" She then flew up and around at the same high speeds. By now Vanilla was thoroughly perplexed and was shaking her head.

Twilight emerged from the house and looked a bit shy. She was a hedgehog as well and was wearing a outfit similar to Applejack's but with a deeper tone. Her spikes were facing down and had the same stripe format that Shadow did. She was the same color she had been as a pony and her stripes were the same as the one in her mane. She looked around and produced a piece of paper and struggled to write all she saw. Hands were new to these ponies after all.

Rarity and Amy finally came out. Rarity was unique from the others in the fact that she was a bird. She had white and purple feathers and was wearing a nice dress that looked more complex than the other outfits. Amy looked exhausted. "Oh I do love this body. It feels fairly odd but it is gorgeous." Rarity said. It was.

All of them, minus Vanilla who was sitting down wondering what she was getting into, regrouped and looked at each other again. They all were in the other's world... Now what?


	25. Chapter 22: An ordinary day take 2

Twilight woke in a panic. She looked and saw the world around her. It was daybreak. She got up and stumbled a bit, feet were still new. She looked and it had been one week exactly since they came here. One week as a hedgehog. Now, she liked the hands and stuff, but it was a bit annoying here and there. Having to lug this emerald with her everywhere was a pain, and it was more unruly, albeit faster, than her horn. She found she still had telekinesis and she was still using it frequently.

She got out of bed and looked around. Spike was up and at-em, at least his constant napping in the prior days does some good. She walked downstairs and looked around. She was staying In Tails' house because, well, he had the most amount of books on the world here. She was researching everything about this world as she didn't know how long she could stay. Shadow had read up enough but he was in no hurry. Every like ten carvings he would pick up a book and begin reading. She was eating the information like it was food and she hadn't eaten in three weeks. Tails came in and started cooking himself something to eat. He let Twilight be most of the time unless she had forgotten to eat or drink anything in a while.

Rainbow Dash woke up in a field as normal. She needed no house or anything, the wide expanses and the odd new world was enough for her. She got up, stretched and powered her wings. They were extremely odd but she had grown accustomed. It was more peaceful than in Ponyville. And yet it wasn't quite the same. Sonic had told her that in the city nearby there were humans that weren't quite as peace loving as the other species here.

She flew up and flew over to Angel Island. It was very odd with the large expanses of desert, forests, ruins and the centerpiece, The emerald shrine. Located toward the front of the island it was a sight to see indeed. It was a haven untouched by man. She saw Knuckles in front of the emerald, standing there. She decided to have some fun.

She touched down and walked up to the red echidna standing there like a statue. She looked him in the eye and started making faces. Knuckles stared. "Wow you have to sit around watching a giant rock, for the rest of your life, all you do. Watch this emerald." She said. Knuckles stared harder. Fluttershy would be proud. Rainbow Dash started flying around, laughing and making faces at Knuckles before she felt something fly into her mouth. A... apple? She looked and Applejack was there with a few apples in hand "Bulls-eye". She apparently had a few apples packed with her. There was a certain section of the island which grew plants near instantly. Clever Applejack. Rainbow Dash spit out the apple while the two echidnas were laughing. Rainbow Dash flew at Applejack, grabbed a few apples and tossed them at the others. Knuckles just punched his and they stuck to his knuckles. Applejack just caught them. She seemed more used to the hands.

Then they saw Shadow. He was walking toward the group with that scowl on his face. Whatever semblance of a soul he picked up in Equestria was gone again. He walked up before he pulled out the Chaos emerald he had. It was glowing. He kept walking before he got to the Master emerald. Knuckles didn't do anything just because he didn't know what to do. Shadow placed the emerald before the master emerald. The 6 others that were nearby started glowing. Knuckles then noticed that this emerald was the one with Luna's magic in it. The Master emerald started reacting due to the introduction of this strange energy. It then spread. All through the other Chaos emeralds the purple tinge contaminated it. Shadow was doing so to give the other Chaos emeralds the Dark magic from Equestria, giving more power. Knuckles was told this would happen so he wasn't worried. Twilight had protested but it was said to be fine.

And all went horribly wrong. A giant robotic monster rose up to where they were. "Why the pests are back! Hello my red friend. And my traitorous hedgehog. Who are your friends?" A voice asked.

Eggman.


	26. Interlude 4: The moon rises

Reply to review:

Thank you. Yes I do plan interaction with humans. Starting next chapter when RD and AJ get a look at Eggman. This is set in the game world. The animals live outside the city. I'm guessin station square is rebuilt as it is mentioned in SA2.

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><p>Thunder started packing up the Wonderbolt's things. They were to be in Canterlot by this night for a special performance. He and Rainbow Dash would be there by the evening. They always flew ahead because, lets face it, they both were ponies who wanted to keep moving and the others who were taking the stuff were a bit too slow. They said goodbye to Spitfire and started to go. They both flew at top speed. Rainbow Dash really liked the fact that Thunder had her speed. She could go as fast as she wanted and still he would keep up.<p>

Shadow and Twilight went to go see what was happening in the meeting room. Marnax decided to walk over and chat with Sunset. She had been a great friend of his for a long time. Forget her connections with one of the people who helped him a good bit through the years. She was a friend all through. She is also probably the only person capable of blackmailing him. Twilight and the rest only knew in passing of his love for princess Luna. She knew the depths. It helps when you have known each other for 20 years. In a bit more detail. "How's life?" He asked. Sunset rolled her eyes. They worked together. He knew very well how life was.

"Fine. I'm surprised you aren't with Luna." Sunset remarked.

"Not right now. It's a more private meeting than normal so no guards are allowed. It's become more lax now that healing spells are better and easier." Marnax said.

"Sure dad." Sunset said with a chuckle. She liked to tease Marnax.

"Just because Luna is your mother by semi-adoption does not make me your father" He replied in a more serious tone.

"Technically..." Sunset trilled. She looked over at the evening sky. 'The Sunset Sky' she laughed. Then she saw two colorful blurs come by and land in the gardens. Rainbow dash and Thunder were here. "You must be the entertainment. Haven't seen you two in a while." Sunset winked.

"Can you be lax among friends?" Rainbow Dash joked before turning to the fountain. Then to Marnax "Did they ever get my note to make me look less fat in that carving?"

"Good to see you too Rainbow dash." Marnax said, "And you too Thunder."

"Don't mind me." Thunder said before going up to Sunset, "Been a while since we saw each other."

"Yeah a whole three hours." Sunset joked.

"Will you and your boyfreind settle down there?" Marnax called. It didn't work as well on Sunset as it did when he teased Rainbow Dash, Shadow or Twilight when they were younger. Of course now he couldn't do that to anyone he knew due to them all being married or resistant to that.

"Whatever, gramps." Sunset called back.

Appleblossom and Lightning got to the spot. It was the same place where Knuckles was teleported to when he first arrived in Equestria. She and lightning put on the outfits made for them if they leave. She took out the special emerald that was made for her. She held it and slowly drew from it's power. Then enveloped herself and Lightning in it. Then they were gone.

They appeared in front of the Master emerald shrine. Knuckles was waiting for her. Appleblossom was a echidna and had mostly the same coloration with single yellow circles on each hand. It represented the telekinetic powers she possessed. When a unicorn in the pony world with a knack for special magic comes they normally have telekinesis. Lightning was a hedgehog (no surprise there) who was the same blue as Sonic but had a light blue stripe down her main spike. Knuckles walked down the steps to greet his daughter and Lightning. "How are you two girls? It's been a while!" he said.

"Fine, dad, its been good. Slow on the apple farm lately." She replied.

"The apple trees here are ripe for harvest. But they always are." Knuckles chuckled. The apple trees Applejack had planted were still standing on the top of the fertile soil. Always with fruit and never empty. The Apple family frequently used them as a winter store when there were no more apples around. Knuckles said goodbye and head off into Equestria for a special occasion. Appleblossom sat down and started chatting with Lightning while watching the emerald.


	27. Chapter 23: The Doctor

Twilight heard the distinctive sound of Spike receiving a message. Then the Dragon ran in carrying a scroll. "What?" She said in astonishment, "A letter from the princess? But this is a completely different world!" She unraveled the scroll with Spike and Tails looking over her shoulder.

My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,

I have not heard from you in a while. But I thought I would tell you of recent happenings in the castle. I was wondering to release this to the public but I will tell just you for now. During the night of a dinner with a foreign prince one of our servants tried to assassinate Luna. I didn't know much more besides the fact that a certain guard had a role in it. Marnax. Do you know anything about him?

Twilight let a gasp that noone else knew the meaning of.

But anyways after later prying it was revealed that a large amount of our guard was knocked out by a black mage who had come in not-so discreetly. This could not be the same servant as we later found his body. But why am I asking you? Well some of the said that your friend, Rainbow Dash was with that person. Also, later reports show that the mage and Rainbow Dash were heading off together. Do you know any dealings with this? Attached is a image that one of our guards snapped with a magic spell.

Twilight looked and there was Shadow and Rainbow Dash. "Oh..." She began before grabbing a bite to eat and started running toward the pass to Angel island when she saw the huge thing looming on the island.

Shadow popped out his Chaos emerald and readied to jump. Rainbow Dash powered her wings. She wasn't sure what this creature was but she was sure he wasn't friendly. He looked like a animal that she had never seen before. "Impressive little wings you have there, missy, but I really don't care. I thought I got rid of you pests." The voice boomed. Rainbow Dash, well, _dashed_ up to the giant... thing at top speed. She propped up by the glass as she felt a CHUNK with Knuckles getting on and another with Shadow jumping on it. Applejack just used a rope to lasso a place to climb up to. "Wow this is a strange little bunch." The voice said, "Lessee Knuckles; Shadow; A echidna with a hat, classy hat by the way; and... are you Sonic's girlfriend cause you look made for each other." Rainbow Dash fumed at this and flew high up.

"What do you want doctor?" Shadow asked.

"Oh nothing just to get rid of you pests." He said before deploying a rocket aimed at Shadow, one at Knuckles and one at Applejack. Shadow jumped up and the robot sustained most of the damage. Knuckles got hit and fell into the ocean. But Applejack's... where were they? Then Shadow saw her RIDING the rocket around. Then he noticed Rainbow dash coming down in a ball at high speeds. Shadow sidestepped the hedgehog's descent and it pierced through the robot. "Oh..." Eggman said when she then flew up to the rocket Applejack was on and got its attention. Applejack flew off and Shadow quickly caught her, landing on the island. Rainbow Dash flew down the hole she had made in the robot that Eggman was frantically trying to fix when she turned and went out. The rocket followed. But didn't leave the robot.

A loud explosion was heard and Twilight saw the debris flying everywhere. A flying object that Twilight had never seen before passed overhead. She said, "If only we could get to the island faster."

Tails then nodded at her emerald. She then remembered the teleportation spell. She tried and tried but couldn't get that great a distance. "Normally all Shadow has to do is call on the emeralds power and say whatever he wants to do. Like, say for teleportation, 'Chaos Control'." Tails piped up. Twilight thought for a second and then it hit her. "CHAOS CONTROL" she called and focused on the area.

She and Tails appeared with Shadow and Applejack right before Rainbow dash came up with a burnt, shivering, soggy Knuckles who was clinging on for dear life. She placed him down just as the strange machine came and touched down. Two large animals that somewhat frightened Twilight wearing dark clothes and had the words G.U.N. On them stepped out. They looked at the group and told them to come with them. Shadow nodded and hopped aboard. From there came a silky voice saying, "Well, you guys, don't just stand around." Rouge appeared, surprising the three newcomers, and beckoned for them. Knuckles was reluctant but Tails followed along. Then came Rainbow Dash and Applejack before Knuckles and Twilight finally got in and they took off.


	28. Chapter 24: GUN's locked and loaded

As the helicopter touched down the seven stepped out and looked around. To Twilight it was extremely odd. Manehattan was humongous but not like this. The strange creatures were all around. Shadow seemed calm and Rouge just walked right up to them. The creatures gave off a strange air. Twilight Saw the amount and saw more people there than anywhere she had ever seen. She heard Shadow say, "This is the G.U.N. headquarters in Central City. Don't worry me and Rouge are agents and they won't hurt us." Twilight felt a bit more relieved but still as scared as ever. Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked a bit less scared but they were more level-headed than the rest. Tails had lost that little spark of constant happiness. And Knuckles was... Knuckles. He really looked stern and reluctant as he walked.

Rouge was calling attention of everyone as they entered. Those who didn't jumped to attention as soon as they saw Shadow. They looked more scared than anything at him. He was feared even by these masses, of taller creatures.

A tall man came toward the group and who should appear than the other people in the party, minus Trixie. The man starts, "Now if you payed attention to the news you know that a part of the city was terrorized. We found the assailant and we tried everything to get her better but couldn't. One by one we got you uh... animals. But none could help. Knuckles, Tails and Shadow were the last but we keep finding you new things. Well here is the victim."

The man stepped aside and in came Trixie. She was stumbling and muttering. The other creatures put up the odd metal things. Right on time too, Trixie fired a blast of ice randomly and it just hit the piece of metal. Twilight heard Rarity chime up, "We think shes... what was that word you used Amy?"

"Drunk, Wasted, Fried." Amy replied.

"Yes... that." Rarity said.

Twilight looked at the drunk echinda and barely missed a fireball by doing so. She noticed Shadow who looked suspicious. She had to agree this was a very odd reason to get them all there. Then a box in the tall man's hand buzzes and says something. "They all there?"

"Almost." The man answers. Then two men come in carrying Spike. "Now they are in position."

"Good. Men! weapons locked! I'm sorry you animals but we cant let you grow in population. Man is top dog so get it straight. Men, spare the agents, the yellow echidna for testing purposes and Sonic."" The voice said while the many men pulled up concealed things that looked bad. Shadow looked suspicious of the voice like it was odd for the commander. Rouge had the same look on her face. Cream hid behind Vanilla, Fluttershy was extremely scared and fainted. Whatever part of courage any of them had was nearly gone. Twilight shot Shadow a glance, "Won't hurt us huh?" she said in a very annoyed manner.

"Well they won't hurt Rouge and me at least." Shadow replied, "If you have the emerald I suggest pulling it out and being ready." He stepped forward emerald in-hand before tossing it to Trixie who had a light emerald, "Please tell me you are sober enough to get us back to Equestria." Twilight gasped. back to Equestria? Now! She saw Trixie nod... kinda. Shadow looked at the troops "Don't you dare shoot." he said. Knuckles, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Sonic all got into fighting positions along with Shadow who produced another emerald. He didn't look like he was going to use it for some reason though. They were actually going to fight back. Madness!

"Ready!" the voice boomed. The troops positioned. Shadow gave Twilight a glance as if saying "Do something!"

"Fire!" The voice called but Twilight was too quick. She cast a shield around them and the bullets ricochet off. The guards took down their things to reload. The others jumped out and started to attack the guards. They got enough damage dome before they locked on their targets again. The jumped inside the shield but Shadow got nicked by a bullet, First blood. The second volley was tougher on Twilight's power. Shadow stood up and looked at Trixie who was straining. The light had enveloped her hands so far. This was too slow. The others were huddled together with the unconscious Fluttershy. It made for a bigger target but easier to care for someone if they are hit.

The guards stopped again and this time Applejack made good use of her feet and concentrated weight. She was kicking the guards then falling on top of them, Second blood drawn this way. Knuckles was punching away and this time he was full force. He was tearing apart their armor. Shadow, Sonic and Rainbow Dash were doing mostly the same thing. Sonic was constantly using his spikes against the guards as they reloaded but Rainbow Dash and Shadow were mostly using melee attacks like kicks in the same general way.

The guards finally got a lock on Shadow, who they deemed most dangerous, and fired. The black hedgehog slumped down, not terribly wounded, into the shield as the guards fired. They knew they were straining the user of this shied and they even were able to breach it once. It didn't do any good as they had aimed at Sonic who was running everywhere so it missed. Shadow was groaning in pain before he looked again at Trixie. She had almost started the process, she just had to cast it over the rest and leave. They could stay in for this reload as they would be gone by the time they fired again. The white light came over them. Then a shot pierced the shield once more and Rainbow Dash yelled as she was shot in the arm. Shadow, Sonic and Twilight went for her. Then they were gone. Before the guard's eyes.

The leader went up and saw two emeralds lying on the ground. Shadow and Twilight had dropped theirs. The leader told this news over the radio. He listened and picked them up to be brought for tests.


	29. Chapter 25: Universe Jumping UTI

**EXTREME NOTE: Sorry for seeming to make G.U.N. out of character last chapter. Its a story point resolved here. I had planned it to seem odd and I am not going to go cliched and start the all humans are evil thing. VERY VERY SORRY. Skip to the end if you just want to see that resolved. Also I did make a humongous mistake in not showing the good humans first for sake of story. Mea Culpa. And I won't be dealing with humans too much anymore.  
><strong>

Note: skip this chapter if you hate humanizations. It's mostly for a filler chapter to slow down the pace. (and to show what was happening to G.U.N.) Also Sonic/Mario Olympic games fans/haters will love me/hate me not respectively. But this is a chapter to play around with drunk Trixie and universe jumping and placing two characters in key positions. Nothing else.

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><p>Rainbow Dash was bleeding in her left arm when the jump happened. The next thing she saw was a odd looking bush with eyes staring at her. Then she noticed that Sonic, Shadow and the others had remained in the same form. Then she noticed the ponies. They were odd uh... bipedal... things. She couldn't really describe it. She tried to say, "Where the hay are we?" but the only thing that came out was, "Yoshiiiiii."<p>

Sonic started laughing. "Remember, Shad, our opponents when we went to that odd Olympic games? Traveled to a alternate dimension."

Shadow groaned, "That was the worst time ever. So boring. Not to mention only like three of our competitors actually spoke right."

"Yeah but remember that cute little Dino thing? And I had no problem thanks to this Italian to english dictionary." Sonic replied.

Shadow thought for a second then started laughing. It was odd for him to do anything more than a sarcastic laugh. "It makes perfect sense!"

Twilight wasn't as amused, "Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi." Sonic and Shadow looked at each other before laughing again. This time a few others joined them.

It didn't take long to find Trixie. She was stumbling about like she had eaten a fuzzy. She had two eggs behind her. Sonic calmly stepped over and broke them. The emeralds popped out. Rainbow Dash was intrigued and had forgotten she was bleeding. She then looked at Shadow and remembered he was shot as well. He also was hurt but didn't mind at all. Very little blood was lost. Sonic picked up the emeralds and gave them to Trixie with a stare. Rainbow Dash looked around again and looked at the state of the others. The ponies' clothes had been destroyed by the transformation. Each of them had their body color as their first color. Fluttershy and she had wings.

Tails ran up to Sonic and the rest of the group with something in his hand. "Wait let me try this device of mine. It should change clothes to fit culture and our new bodies. It may save embarrassment if Trixie messes up again." he said. While setting the adjustments he was narrowly missed by a fireball from Trixie. He pressed a button and the group was surrounded by a light before it vanished. "It worked!" Tails said in joy. Trixie was getting more power. The others gathered around. Vanilla looked scared. Fluttershy floated over and comforted her. The light grew and Trixie looked like she was straining. She wanted this to work even though she was as fried as a chicken. The light envoloped them as a red figure in the background waved at them. Sonic waved back and yelled something is what sounded like gibberish.

Then everything was white.

They appeared in a place with lots and lots and lots of books. The only thing that kept Twilight from going insane reading was looking at the others. They looked like the strange creatures that had tried to hurt them. Trixie was the one she saw first. She was wearing tight pants, A black coat with a white shirt underneath. And most strikingly she had a light blue cape. She looked like a fairly young woman. In these forms their age differences were striking.

Then she noticed Fluttershy. She looked tall and still had her wings out. The rings had reappeared on her. She had a yellow turtleneck on and jeans. Twilight stopped for a second and wondered where she was getting these terms for things she had never seen. She shook it off and looked at Fluttershy's flowing pink hair.

She saw Sonic and Shadow. Sonic wore a blue sweater with a white stripe in the middle and jeans as well as blue spiky hair while Shadow wore a black t-shirt with his symbol in the middle over a black long sleeved shirt and had on black pants. The hairstyle was the same with the red stripes. Shadow also seemed to have a protrusion from his knee that looked dangerous if you were on the receiving end.

Rainbow dash was wearing tight clothes looking like they were designed for ease of movement. She had short rainbow hair. Dressed in light blue.

Twilight herself had on a long-sleeved, purple shirt and a purple skirt with long hair in the same style as she had her mane as a pony, color and all.

Twilight looked around a bit more and looked around the books. She saw more of the creatures. These looked friendly and approachable. They were happy and all reading, Twilight's idea of heaven. She turned to Shadow said, "Now why couldn't your 'friends', Shadow, be as kind as these ones are?"

Shadow rolled his eyes, "They are but G.U.N. is following corrupt orders. It was obvious when the 'commander' spoke. That isn't their commander as Rouge would agree." At this he looked around, "Say, where are Rouge and Rarity?" For they were not with them.

Rouge descended from her hiding place in the shadows after the leader had left. Rarity dropped beside her. The soldiers were talking and they listened to them, "The commander must have went insane. I'm glad the creatures got away. I feel really sorry for them. I shot somewhere else on purpose." one said.

"Yeah," said another, "The one that hit Shadow and the light blue hedgehog were intended for the wall but they ran in front in complete bad luck. Our squadron leader even looked confused at the insanity of the orders."

Rouge took a chance and revealed herself. "Then why are you following the orders?" she asked while stepping out.

The soldiers turned before lifting their weapons. "Rouge, please... don't hurt us. We were following orders."

"Thats your problem." she sighed, "You follow orders too strictly. That was obviously not the commander."


	30. Chapter 26: Darkness arises

Note: Making up for making GUN seem evil by making them seem human. Also explaining why they followed the orders they didn't want to follow as well as finally getting back to Equestria.

yay

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><p>Rarity emerged from the shadows as well. The guards looked at her for a second before turning back to Rouge. One soldier said, "It's not like we have a choice to follow orders. When someone entered G.U.N. during the war, the one which ended just three years ago, you were injected with something that is similar to a shock collar for dogs except it only has three settings: Mild, Severe, and Kill. You and Shadow don't have it because you joined G.U.N. after the war."<p>

Rouge thought about that. "Why would they do that?" she asked. This did not seem like something they would do. The rules of war still applied.

Another soldier spoke up, "The enemy was using a hypnosis-like weapon. We found the only way to snap someone out of it is to deliver a mild shock them. Sometimes it was severe and needed a bigger shock, and sometimes we had to deliver a lethal shock as to do it humanely. It was divulged to us before we got it as to not cause a government scandal. We were also told the controls would be destroyed after the war but then conflict after conflict came such as the Shadow incident and the Black Arms invasion. Higher ups decided to keep them in. But now its being used for doling out war crimes punishment. Only used for severe punishment but with the commander acting this way we might be hurt anyway."

Rouge thought that was reasonable excuse. The soldiers probably accepted it gratefully. Rarity spoke up, "But we will need you to help us! Do you know how it works so we can stop it?"

The soldiers thought for a second before the first one that had spoken drew his pistol and shot something. A fizz and a blast came from the area he shot revealing a tiny hidden camera and microphone. "Now, quickly, the master controls for the shock implants are upstairs. It's something that we were promised. Now fulfill that promise. I'd say you two have around fifteen minutes. In a secret area in the very top floor there is a very large device that is emitting signals for the shock chip purposes. No guard here will hurt you for doing this except for the security robots and well worry about those. Go!"

The guards started down the hall to deactivate security measures while Rouge and Rarity took off at top speed toward the stairwell. 'At least this place is clean. Other than the blood from the battle.' Rarity thought. A neat freak in any situation. Unlike Rouge who was thinking, 'Maybe they keep something valuable in that secret room.'

Sonic looked around at his surroundings. Twilight had finally lost control and was running all over reading books. A person on a computer looked up and saw the girl running scanning all the books. He looked at the picture that someone had drawn for a certain fan group and back at the girl. He shook his head and searched for something else. Sonic stepped into view and he looked again. He closed his computer and went home muttering something about needing more sleep and how he needs to stop looking at humanizations.

Cream and Fluttershy were helping Trixie to a seat. At least she was a quiet drunk. Quiet in a literal sense. She was singing but in a voice no one could hear. They needed to get away from these people to try again and they wanted to sober Trixie up. Sonic was walking around and looking. Vanilla was helping Trixie; Fluttershy was tending to Shadow's and Rainbow Dash's wounds (against their wishes as they said it was fine); Twilight was reading constantly; the others were talking about all that had happened, and Tails was looking around on the computers. He said something was different between their computer systems back home and the ones here. Sonic looked around the windows and saw a hill with a field outside. Perfect for the return teleportation. Trixie looked a bit better than when he had first seen her a few hours ago. Sober enough to get them to Equestria. The only problem was to get Twilight out. Shadow said he would get it as he reached for his emerald. At this he realized he didn't have it. He was frozen in place. One more person to drag out.

Marcus Reynolds, AKA Unit 43819 of the Guardian Units of Nations, rushed ahead of the rest of his team. They needed to deactivate the security cameras and the security drones. Rouge and the bird that was with her. He had misgivings of the agent but he was past that. The commander was being controlled and he was forced to shoot those he didn't want. He would help a convicted thief at this point. Oh, wait, that's exactly what he was doing. His best friend, Jack Aero, was beside him, sweating like a pig. He was inexperienced and a bit on-edge at all times. Marcus had a sinking feeling about this run. He was the most optimistic of the crew, but even he was having second thoughts. But they rushed on, determined.

Then he remembered the emeralds. Their leader, Bruce Montoya, had taken the two emeralds dropped by Shadow and the deep purple hedgehog. If the commander really was corrupted by something he shouldn't have them. Someone had to get them. But that was suicide. He looked at the faces following him. Some had families, friends, loved ones. If they died they would be left. But him, no, he had no one. He really was a nameless. No one would miss him other than Jack. His only friend. He turned around and the men stopped. He took up his gun, and handed a small item to Jack from the pocket in his heart. "Take this, don't you dare lose it." he said. Jack looked and looked back at Marcus. He knew what he was holding. He saluted and Marcus took off after the leader of their squad. Jack shed a single tear before sprinting on toward the control room for the defenses.

Bruce Montoya marched on toward the commander's room. This was extremely strange of him to give such orders. This was extremely cruel of his commander. So odd he didn't even know what to make of it. The commander was known to have been determined to crush Shadow during the Black Arms invasion but this? No, no something was definitely wrong. He hadn't seen the commander face-to-face for about a week. Something was definitely up.

He strode on, shaking all misgivings. He opened the door to the commander's room. "Sir, the targets escaped due to a very strange teleportation that was made by one of the echidnas. We tried all we could and we managed to get one of the Chaos emeralds. As well as a stranger emerald that helped a different one cast a shield."

The commander stood still before turning. Bruce jumped at the sight. The commander's eyes, once green and brown, were deep blue and dark purple. He also cast a dark vibe around the room. The commander reached out for the emeralds and took them. He looked at the man in the eye and suddenly Bruce felt like someone had punched him in the gut. He looked and saw that he was bleeding. A bullet wound was apparent and he felt blood flow down his back. He looked at the commander and saw the pistol he held. "That was for letting them escape, traitor."

Twilight was finally dragged into place on the side of the hill. She was still sulking that she hadn't had more time to read about this world. They were away from the city behind the grassy knoll. Trixie was stumbling still but she said she was fine. Only two words slaughtered, good enough. She concentrated as the group sat around. If anything she was faster than ever. The emeralds didn't take as much out of someone as using a horn did and she began with ease. Her cape swayed all around like in a fierce wind as well as her hair. She kept forcing herself on and on.

Twilight never faltered in her amazement that that one person could force herself so much. Trixie slowly covered them in the light and this time, just to show off, she included some magic fireworks in the spectacle. The only applause came from Twilight who was just interested in the amount of magic put out. Barbarians. They slowly faded in the whiteness before appearing again in the ruined temple right in front of Luna, all as ponies. After looking around they saw guards all staring at Shadow. Shadow looked and said in a very serious manner, "Sorry for this, your highness, but this is a fine pile of [censored by ditzy publishing industries] right here."


	31. Interlude? 5: Pieces of the puzzle

Amethyst was running his mothers shop for her that day. Rarity was called away to Canterlot to make dresses for a few nobles. She was still small-time but she had friends in high places. Amethyst was no designer, on the contrary, he really had no interest is such. He mostly helped small businesses manage their funds. But he took over Rarity's shop now and then. Apple Bloom occasionally dropped in and helped around. She was more into interior decorating although she was a good seamstress. Fluttershy was helping today. She helped out most of the days Rarity wasn't around. Her animal friends often helped her. She said she wasn't nearly as good but her sewing work was fair. Amethyst looked in the mirror. His horn was nicely polished and his white coat, well shaved. His indigo mane was well kept. Really he looked like a gender swap of his mother.

The doorbell rang and Amethyst looked over at who had come in. A red unicorn came in and looked at Fluttershy. He nodded. Fluttershy gave a squeak and all eyes turned to Amethyst.

Appleblossom looked at Lightning. She wished the young hedgehog hadn't had come. Now she had to drag someone else into this. She looked over the area before finally seeing the yellow figure approaching. As it came closer Lightning noted it as Tails. The fox touched down on the island and Lightning looked a bit confused. The fox looked the echidna in the eyes. "Are you sure you are ready?" Tails asked Appleblossom.

Appleblossom looked over at the Master emerald. "Yes, yes I am. I know what will come. And I know what will be the result." she said with a heavy sigh. She wasn't but there was no time. Tails put his hand on her before taking Lightning. It was abrupt but he didn't want to aggravate her worries. The result was set in stone. It wasn't the greatest but it was going to happen.

Appleblossom saw the two off before she turned back to the emerald. She looked. Something she had done so many times before without wanting to. With the subtlety of a hand grenade she turned her body sideways and gave a devastating lateral kick to the emerald. Her father had massive strength in his hands; her mother in her feet but she was a martial artist and relied on precision. The centralized blow was sure to destroy the emerald. Knuckles would be crying right now if it weren't his instructions that she was carrying out. The emerald would have normally shattered. But right now it just gave of a light. It slowly opened and Appleblossom concentrated.

On top of the Canterlot castle a pony looked down at the figures coming in the gates. A white mare with a purple mane and a stallion who looked like he was just towing her stuff. The mare came up to the group in the gardens after instructing the stallion. They started talking. The pony relayed the information back to Celestia. Only a few more minutes. Sonic hoped the three other than Appleblossom wouldn't hate them for not warning them. The guardian herself was probably regretting this as she preformed the action. But this was the designated time.

Rarity came up to the group in the gardens. All but Sunset and Thunder stopped talking completely. The signal. Marnax looked over at Sunset with a expression she didn't understand. The others returned and all eyes came onto Sunset and Thunder. They wondered what was going on.

Applejack trotted into Rarity's shop with Pinky in tow. Knuckles bit his lip slightly as a odd aura seemed to emanate from Amethyst. The pony seemed extremely scared at the amount of people around him before he started feeling odd.

Appleblossom focused on Rarity's shop. She focused on the first target to transport.

Amethyst.


	32. Chapter 27: Eclipse

Note: There is a major time disconnect here. All through Rouge and Rarity's storyline the others will still be in the Mario world. It shouldn't cause too much confusion but it may anyways.

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><p>Twilight remembered the letter and saw the look on the guards faces. A unicorn charged at them, horn down. She went and started to cast a teleportation spell when the guard reached them and threw Luna into the zone along with himself. The group teleported to a different area in the forest where it was shown to be daylight. Then they noticed the guard who had come with them. She tossed off hers helmet for a second. It was not who Shadow and Rainbow Dash expected. Instead a white unicorn with light blue hair revealed herself. "You are insane for showing yourself around here." she said in a rage to Shadow, "It's a good thing I knew who you are and what you did." all of them had no idea what this pony was talking about. All except Vanilla who was still shocked at her new form and wasn't paying attention. It was a bit sudden you have to admit. "My name is Engessa. I happen to know Marnax and was one of the guards who was chasing you the night of the assassination attempt. Also the only one who didn't pay zilch to the comrades you knocked out but I instead followed you and saw what happened in full. I got Marnax to tell me the rest of what happened."<p>

Shadows face came over in realization as well as Rainbow Dash's. The rest were still puzzled. All but Tails and Spike, who could guess approximately what happened. Twilight was smarter than them both but she was a bit slow so was still trying to figure things out. Luna spoke up, "I seem to have stalkers. But really I'm glad we got out of there. Using poison joke on my guards and knocking out half of the castle guards was, well, a bit cruel don't you think? I'd hate to see what you would do to them in that situation."

"What would you have preferred me to do, princess? Kill them outright as was my only other option?" Shadow said dryly.

Twilight had had enough. She stepped over and said, "Look, Luna, we are in a predicament." Twilight told her and Engessa to sit down as she recounted the story. She emphazised the part about the universe beast.

Something seemed to strike Sonic like a lightning bolt. His eyes widened and he turned to Rainbow Dash. He whispered something into Rainbow Dash's ear. She thought long and hard before the same realization settled in her. They both relayed it to Shadow. He thought for a shorter time before nodding. Rainbow Dash called Trixie, Applejack, Knuckles and motioned for Engessa. She got up and walked over. Rainbow Dash turned to Trixie, who was now fully sober although had a bit of a headache. "Can you see what spells Twilight had used in the recent past?" she asked fervently.

"The, _ohhhhhh_, Great and Powerful Trixie, _ahhh_, can do it in a, _owwwww_, s-snap." She said moaning. She looked at Twilight and cast a spell on her horn. She read the patterns in the motions. "Teleportation spell, _groan_, healing spell, again, again, tracking spell, _ouch_, another tracking spell..."

"Stop and see the results of that." Rainbow Dash ordered.

Trixie seemed annoyed, "Let's see. Okay I got all data on it. My head-"

Rainbow Dash seemed glad. "Okay now replicate the spell with that information."

Trixie looked at her and wondered why. She cast the spell, tracing and inputing things in it like an algebraic equation. Twilight did not have the variables when she cast it and was relying that the blood on Sonic's body would supply the rest. Trixie had them all and just needed the magic to tell her where he was. A image was displayed in front of the group. The assassin was in a tree looking down at something. Rainbow Dash figured this would be useless information but then she noticed that Engessa had her sword out and gripped by the telekinetic energy. Then she swung her sword into a bunch of leaves and the image showed a nearby rustle where the assassin looked. Then Engessa quickly jumped up and Rainbow Dash, along with Sonic and Shadow, followed suit with Applejack and Knuckles behind them.

They appeared in the treetops and there, perched on a branch, was the assassin. Sonic and Rainbow Dash's suspicions were confirmed. The assassin seemed a bit more inclined to run as he saw himself outnumbered. But the time he stood in place was just long enough for Engessa to get a good lock on him. She had all the information she ever needed. The unicorn assassin shot a few bolts of energy. This finally stopped Twilight's narrative and alerted her and Luna that something was happening overhead. The wings appeared along with the magically powered rockets as Shadow and Engessa lunged at the dark pony. A very very dark blue aura surrounded the killer and seemed to predict his movements. That or it was controlling him. The pony sidestepped the attack but found the two attacking him turning about face and charging again. He smiled and stepped to the side again. But the two ponies were going right into his sword wings. Rainbow Dash and Sonic leaped into action not a moment too soon as they saved the two ponies right before they were to be cut. The possessed killer took off at top speed. Rainbow Dash was going to chase him alone but Applejack grabbed the pony's tail before she did something immensely stupid. If the assassin was to be caught she would need more than just her speed. Knuckles banged his front hooves together and Applejack adjusted her hat down a bit. Engessa even stepped up sword at ready. "I can track him." she said with confidence. No more words were needed.

Luna and Twilight finally got up and looked. They just saw the assassin disappear, and the group of four galloping out. Sonic was still there. He loved the idea of returning and dealing out vengeance to the killer who had mortally hurt him but didn't charge into things without thinking. He was needed here. Luna decided now was the time to send out the warning signal. She raised the moon, still invisible to most, and was slowly positioning it. Twilight took the time to trace the patterns she made but noticed that Shadow was doing the same thing. Why would that be?

In Canterlot princess Celestia was pacing the grounds. She had just gotten a scroll that Luna had disappeared with Twilight, her friends and an assortment of other strange ponies. The description of one matched the blue pony she was with when she visited over a week ago and the other she recognized was the pony who was wanted by the royal guard. She didn't know what to make of it. She wasn't omniscient. Only her mother was and she looked down and used her to do things. She was the queen in a chess game that was being played out with her mother and an unknown opponent. Equestria had once told her. Luna was the white king. And her evil side was the black king. Somewhat like her own dark side was the black queen. Celestia shook that off. She didn't want to remember that time. But it nagged her like Nightmare Moon did Luna. The rest of the pieces were various. Shrouded in mystery. But why was she thinking about that? Why now? She was fuming before a shadow was cast over the castle. She heard some ponies scream while others gasped in wonder. Then she looked. The moon covered the sun. Total eclipse. Oh no. Celesta charged her horn and disregarded her guards pleas.

Rouge and Rarity came to the stairwell. Spiral stairs with a large drop in the middle. Perfect. Rouge jumped into the space and started flying up much faster than any other way up. Rarity followed suit after removing her long gloves and unfurling her wings. It was not how birds worked normally but hey nothing was right about the body structure of Rarity. She soared up right below the bat. She was regretting following Rouge out of the shield as to stay behind. It was madness. That and the bat's boots which she was staring at were simply filthy. But the others probably were not much worse off.

They landed at the top and looked around. Drones were everywhere. They had to wait it out. They had already wasted three minutes.

Jack Aero looked at his hand before placing the item given to him in the most secure place in his jacket. He knew what it was and what it meant. Marcus wasn't coming back. He knew that much. The control room was just up ahead. Hopefully he could make it in time. The guards watched the small squadron run on. The doors to the control room were in front of him. As he reached out to open them he heard a scream. Four drones were behind them and firing at the group. One by one they dropped dead and bloodied. Jack opened the door and started to go in when he was shot and tossed into the room still alive. He looked at the computer as he slowly bled to death.


	33. Chapter 28: Greed and Generosity

Jack crawled up the chair into the control room seat. Slowly he looked and started inserting code after code.

Rouge looked again. The drones dropped to the ground, malfunctioning. Guards were running out to see what was wrong with them when Rouge decided to jump out and go. As said the guards did not pay attention to them. Secret room. Where would that be? The searched the top layer over and over and couldn't find anything. 7 minutes left. Rarity was tired. She leaned against one of the walls to catch her breath. A odd noise for a stone wall came out. She leaned again and the same noise was made. Wood creaking. Rouge turned and heard it too. She went over and gave the hidden door a swift kick. It showed a poorly lit room with a signal tower in it. Rouge laughed. "You would think the government would do better than just a door that looks like a wall."

Jack slumped in his chair and looked up. A long chute in the ceiling went up. He had been in here so many times but never figured that out. His last time here and he guessed the mystery would never be solved. He pulled out the thing Marcus had given him. And died.

Marcus ran toward the commanders room. He couldn't get there as quickly as bruce for he didn't have the correct access cards. He just rounded the corner and was about to enter the commander's overlook when the commander himself, giving off a dark aura came out with a gun in hand. Marcus was stunned then noticed the blood on his shirt. No. This wasn't the commander. Or was it?

"Another traitor." the tall man said, in a lower voice than Marcus remembered the commander talking in, before raising his pistol. Marcus ran and he missed but heard the click of reloading. Marcus drew his own machine gun and used the corner to hide. The footsteps drew closer. The commander turned the corner and marcus opened a single shot, not to waste his already scarce ammo and to see if the commander had any armor. A small sound of something shattering came from his chest and pieces of something fell out the hole. The strange emerald. One down.

The commander screamed and opened a shot at Marcus. He was shot dead in the left arm and was screaming in pain. Blood was seeping although it was thankfully not a mortal wound. Marcus stafed around took a few more shots at the commander. This time he was shot and it hit twice. Marcus could see the blood coming out and... oh thank goodness he dropped one of the emeralds. Marcus went to get the green chaos emerald as the commander opened fire once again, shooting twice. Marcus was shot twice again with another miraculous not-lethal hit to the hand. He grabbed the emerald and tucked it into his form. Marcus was not a fighting man and wanted to get out of there now that. Unfortunately unlike alomst every other species humans were given horrible flight responses. He knew he had to stay and fight the commander.

Rouge and Rarity slowly walked in and looked at the equipment. Rarity had no experience with this stuff but Rouge was on it in a second. She first checked around for traps, then valuables. Cause thats what you keep in a secret room. Rarity took the time to notice how dusty it was before she saw footprints. They were very big and led to a large screen. Fingerprints were obvious in the dust. She pressed a large button away from the screen and it powered on. It asked for a passcode and had buttons on the screen. Rarity noticed the fingerprints on the buttons and tried them in a random order. Incorrect. Rouge noticed what she was doing and examined the fingerprints carefully. She pushed them in a different order. Correct. "Trick of the trade." she said before going back to search for stuff.

Rarity rolled her eyes and looked. Shock chip control panel. She pressed that and it brought up another set of buttons. It said to enter the unit name of the needed one. Rarity got an idea. "Rouge, darling, what is the number of the commander guy?" she said.

Rarity looked at her for a second, "G2D54J9W0, and don't call me darling." she replied before going to work. Disappointed because the only valuable thing she found was a ring with a tiny diamond on it which wasn't worth anything. If only she could get Rarity to look. Rarity was busy punching in the number Rouge had told her. She looked at what came up. Three buttons that said: Low, High, Lethal. Rarity thought that lethal wouldn't be good so instead she chose high. In case the commander really did want them dead.

Marcus got up but was staring down a pistol to his forehead. He had failed. The commander looked furious as he was about to pull the trigger. Then the commander screamed and dropped his gun. Marcus knew he was being shocked. He grabbed his gun and unloaded a few rounds into the corrupt commander's body. The leader screamed but didn't fall or die. Blood was pouring from every part of his body but he gave a tremendous punch to Marcus. He fell back and the last thing he felt before losing consciousness was a bullet piercing each of his legs, and coughs coming from the commander.

Rouge finally gave up and looked back. Rarity was looking around before she started pressing buttons excitedly. She had found how to deactivate the device so they could destroy it. Rouge finally lost patience and pushed Rarity aside and was jamming in stuff. It gave a bit of noise before the device behind them turned off. One more thing to do. Rouge positioned herself and began kicking the device in key points. She was no Knuckles but, wow, she could sure deal out some blows. Rarity stood back. She was kicking up dust everywhere. Ugh.

The tower finally gave and fell. The metal was crashing to the ground and a small device revealed itself. Rouge gave one more kick and it was destroyed. The room grew dark. Then they heard a noise. A drone was coning into there. It took a good lock and fired. Rarity got out of its firing range in time but Rouge wasn't so lucky and was shot in the arm. She screamed and fell. The floor beneath her gave way and she fell into a long shaft. Rarity screamed and dived after her, getting shot once in the leg in the process.

Rouge had opened her wings to slow her descent. She was too weak to fly. She then saw Rarity diving at her. She would be going faster but she kept brushing the blood from her face. Could she forget about hygiene just this once? Rarity had a feeling of deja vu. In a sense. She was hurt a tiny bit but Rouge was obviously having major problems. She kept closing in floor after floor. The ground was coming up quickly and she kept going down. Just as they were about to hit Rarity puled through and grabbed Rouge. Unfortunately she couldn't pull up quite fast enough so they both hit with a deafening THUD. They both were somewhat hurt and were knocked unconscious.

Rarity regained consciousness after a while and noticed Rouge doing something to her shoe on her good foot. When she stood up that foot felt wobbly. Rouge started groaning. "Look, kid, if anything happens you probably wont be able to outwit it. Else you'll end up like this guy." she said before motioning toward a chair.

Rarity looked and gasped at the sight. One of the guards who had been with them was sitting there, dead, with a bullet hole in his chest. Then Rarity noticed something in his hand. She picked it up. It was a locket. Rarity opened it only to see it was empty. On the back it said Marcus in tiny letters. But then she looked at a identifying number on his badge. She turned to Rouge, "Do you know the name of unit 3G66WGY9?"

Rouge thought, "Yes, I worked with him once he's Jack Areo. Is that him? A shame."

Rarity thought. So who was this Marcus? Rarity had no time to think for she heard footsteps. She peered out the crack in the door and gasped. The guards who had been with them were all lying dead and something was approaching. Rarity was dumbfounded. She was half with tears. All for naught. All for naught. The footsteps grew louder and Rarity stepped back from the door. She heard muttering that sounded a bit familiar. The commander. Rouge looked at her sternly. She had to protect them.

The door was opened with a frightening slam. Rarity wanted to run as fast as she could away. But then she noticed that the man was already hurt greatly. She just had to disarm him. The commander raged and pulled up his gun. He was weak already and it was taking its toll. Rarity turned and gave a swift kick to the commander's arm. He screamed in pain and let go of his gun. Rarity looked again and saw the place she had kicked was bleeding furiously. She then realizes what Rouge put on her shoe. A small blade protruded. Rarity felt awful. But then she noticed the commander was struggling. The aura around him was fading and moving of its own accord. Rarity noticed his eyes were changing color. The aura revealed itself as a misty thing that split itself into two. Rarity gasped. The mist came straight at her and Rouge. Then blackness.

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><p>Appleblossom concentrated, building up energy in the emerald. She took a breath released it and Amethyst was teleported away.<p> 


	34. Chapter 29: Kill me once

Happy 20th birthday Sonic! Hopefully Sega's birthday present won't ruin your reputation like the 15th birthday's present! I mean seriously. Sonic 06. Dear Sega PLEASE treat your mascots better...

3000 words exactly YESSSS NI the bars

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><p>Luna fell after finishing the spell. It was very energy-intensive and would probably kill the average non-magic-using pony if they tried it. Twilight ran to prop her up. Shadow concentrated on something for a second before stepping slightly to the left and turning. Sure enough something happened. A few ripples of magic appeared before lights began shining. Then, in the blink of an eye, Celestia appeared and rushed toward Luna. Then she saw the group. Twilight and two of her friends. No surprise there. But the others were complete strangers to her, minus the blue pony who was with her when she came to her. And, oh no, the black stallion who was wanted by the royal guards. He seemed to read her thoughts. "Nice to meet you too, your highness." he said, his words were like a desert.<p>

Twilight began, sounding extremely nervous, "Ahhh... princess Celestia! What a surprise."

Celestia took her eyes away from the black pony for a second, "Twilight. I really wasn't expecting you here. When Luna gave the signal–" She stopped for a second before continuing in a more serious, "You do know that the black pony you are with is a wanted black mage."

Shadow started in an voice dripping with sarcasm, "Of course she didn't, no one knew before you said that. Especially after we just escaped a group of royal guards who were about to attack me."

Celestia, who was patient to all normal ends, seemed a bit mad at his disrespectful attitude. This wouldn't have bothered her at all except it was coupled with the fact that it was a wanted criminal speaking to her this way, "You also knocked out half a royal guard detachment and was part of the assassination attempt."

Shadow seemed enraged and would probably started to yell at Celestia if Luna hadn't spoken up, "Celly, he helped us. He wasn't part of it."

"How would you know anything, sister? And please don't call me Celly in front of a group."

"I... I just know!" She said, trying her hardest to keep what went on a secret for as long need be.

Twilight decided to end this, "Princess I already knew that and for the record I've been harboring him in the library for a month against his will. Now will you please look past that, for we have a more dire situation at hand." Celestia turned, a bit shocked, toward Twilight who sat down and told their general situation and what had happened a few minutes earlier.

After it was all done and Celestia was still pondering what happened, Luna said, "I guess I should move the moon away from the sun." She struggled to her feet and started trying to move it. Twilight figured she could help since she recently copied it. At least somewhat. She walked away as to not attract attention and powered her horn. The spell surged through her body and she was biting her lip. But she didn't feel like she was moving the moon. Then she heard Luna say, "Odd things are happening. One, the spell isn't taking as much out of me, as if something was helping, and the sun is moving as well!"

Twilight forced herself to look up and sure enough, the sun was moving in a very tiny amount. She stopped in awe and the sun stopped. Then she looked to the side and Shadow was using the very same spell. But relaxed like he was just helping it along. He turned to Twilight. "Same spell, different medium. You were moving the sun."

Twilight thought for a second. "Then how did Celestia do it while Luna was imprisoned?"

"Beats me. Probably used some amulet or something to convert her light magic into dark magic." Shadow replied. Twilight finally remembered that Celestia once said she had to use something along with her magic to raise and lower the moon as it was not her original place. Makes sense.

Luna finally put it down and Celestia rose. "Yes, yes this is a problem. But what of your friends? They are in grave danger if this is true and you say a being this powerful is controlling the pony they are after?"

Twilight thought for a second. "I think they will be fine. But right now I should probably tell you all that has happened." and she started again. Sonic lay down for a quick nap while the others groaned. This would take a while. Sonic thought of how just a few years ago he was running around green hill without a care in the world. Heh seemed more like twenty years by now.

Rainbow Dash was a tiny bit frustrated. They needed to go faster. And although they were all decently fast (She was surprised at Knuckles' speed in comparison to size), they weren't going to catch him at this rate. Engessa finally groaned and charged her horn while running. Her sides started glowing. Eventually two crude wings appeared. "I heard of you and Shadow's escape. Let's see if it was his speed or his tactics." She ran in front of Knuckles and stopped. Sending him flying onto her back. "A word of this and you are dead, lead weight." she groaned. Knuckles turned a bit red.

Applejack jumped onto Rainbow Dash. "Giddayup 'Fastest Flyer in Equestria!'"

Rainbow Dash turned and snarled as she saw Engessa jump up into the treetops once again. She managed to hear the guard grunt, "Potato sack, what spells do you know?"

Knuckles was fuming, "I didn't ask for this. And I don't know. I'm the guardian of the master emerald. I don't play around going 'Herp derp I wonder what I can do today as I watch the emerald derpy herp' as my eyes go herpy derp. I don't play around doing magic tric-!" Knuckles raged back to the pony but stopped when he felt a sharp pain on his head. He looked just to see an anvil fall away. The pain increased dramatically after looking.

Ditzy brushed her hooves off as she indignantly flew away. The nerve of that pony!

Engessa rolled her eyes, "Don't even ask how she did that. You may be able to help. Can you detect black magic?"

Knuckles babbled a bit incoherently before shaking himself off and saying, "Howwww would I knowww? I can only deeeaaaaa- detect Chaos energyyyyy like that of thaaaahhh Master Emerald."

Engessa thought. "Chaos energy. Chaos. Okay so yes you can. Try it, potato sack!"

Knuckles snapped out of his pains and screamed, "If you call me potato sack again—"

"Calm down, hothead, and just do the spell. Collect any data possible."

Knuckles groaned and concentrated. Rainbow Dash saw his horn start to glow a dark red. It jumped up and down every so often. Engessa's own horn began to glow. The glow began to creep out toward Knuckles' till they fused energies. Engessa yelped at the shock as her own aura began to be contaminated with the other energy. Her horn started reacting strangely like she wasn't expecting something. The white unicorn finally let her energy go and turned ahead again, narrowly missing a tree. "Are you okay thar, sugacube?" Applejack called over.

"I'm fine, I got the information we need. He has a huge head start on us. The reaction was just because somepony didn't tell me he was a black magic user instead of light magic!" Engessa called back looking at Knuckles sternly. Strangely enough, he didn't look sorry.

Sonic was awoken from his nice daytime nap by a rustling of leaves. The forest around him was letting very little light in and only birds could be heard, other than Twilight's yammering on. How far in was she? The splitting up. Great. Sonic rolled over but felt a few leaves drop onto her head. He opened his eyes again and his ears perked up. Shadow and Trixie caught that subtle motion. You pay attention to tiny things like that when you are bored out of your skull. The others were chatting away. Sonic looked up. A slight shift in the shadows betrayed the fact that something was there. Shadow apparently had seen more. He was cursing constantly. Everyone turned to see what was happening.

That's when the thing jumped down. The hair was torn and thrown all around, the flesh was torn in every place, in some places revealing the bone. Blood was pouring everywhere mixed with other fluids. One eye was missing and half of its face was torn off. It gave off the same aura the assassin did. But what it was was completely unmistakable. Shadow looked absolutely terrified. This terrified almost everyone else. Even calm Celestia looked like she was about to faint. Fluttershy went unconscious at this absolutely grotesque sight. The rest were completely locked up in horror.

It was the manticore.

It stared Shadow in the eye whilst everyone stepped back. The mist went every which way but the beast seemed determined. It was going to absolutely murder _this_ pony by hell or high water. The mist looked like it was trying to pull itself out of that body. Only sheer will of it's host kept it in.

Shadow planted one hoof firmly back. He had killed this thing. Ghosts always seem to hold a grudge on him. Even Eggman wasn't this persistent.

His horn began to charge but the manticore wasn't going to let him use it. It swept at the black stallion and smacked him square in the side, tossing blood all over him and cutting him badly. Shadow opened his eyes in rage. He jumped around at top speed as the manticore took after him. The thing was incredibly fast and none of his friends seemed willing to help. Thanks a lot. He understood though. If he was in utter shock what were they feeling like?

Sonic would have jumped into the fray and began helping Shadow right away. But something odd was going on. He had never felt this frightened and his legs had locked up. This beast really was the scariest thing he had ever seen.

The blood was flying from the manticore as it continued to swipe at Shadow. The stallion was just too quick. He was charging his horn higher and higher. Straining at every jump and skip. Just a little bit more.

Twilight remembered when she first met Shadow. "Hopefully," she though, "This won't be the last." Twilight was shaking all over when she stopped and noticed something odd. The manticore looks like it had been dead for days. Why isn't is out of blood by now? Was- of course. The mysterious mist was replenishing it.

Shadow was thinking the same thing in between jumps. But that doesn't explain how Rainbow Dash killed the assassin. If the mist acts like a life force why did the assassin die? It's possible Rainbow dash hit something that paralyzed the pony so the mist gave up and let out. Most likely. His horn began to light the forest with the deep red of the magic. This was sure to attract the guards.

Twilight looked to her side and saw Luna powering her own horn. It was a spell Twilight hadn't seen so she looked on. One by one appeared things from thin air. Luna was searching frantically, "Ugh, books not now, Abacus you are always useful except for now, Food..."

"Wait, what are you doing, and did you just speak to your abacus?" Twilight said raising her eyebrow.

"Uhh... I'm searching for stuff. And you'll hurt Abacus' feelings if you talk about him that way. Now water, salsa, cupcake, copy of Cupcakes, picture of guard that Celly won't stop putting in there." Luna continued, throwing that last object at Celestia who snickered. She kept materializing and de-materializing things from some invisible source.

Shadow finally charged his horn to the amount he wanted. Time to unleash it. He stared by firing a few simple energy bolts at the eye of the beast. It missed all three times but Shadow didn't mind. He then used Chaos control to get over on the beast's back. Blood, flesh and bone was what he appeared on and he slipped. Blood dripped into his moth and he immediately felt sick. It was mixed with fluids. Shadow unleashed a move he called chaos nightmare. His four hooves lit up in energy and the beast screamed in pain as it obliterated part of it's back.

Shadow jumped off, the energy he stored was nearly depleted but one more move would do it. He looked around. All except Twilight and the two princesses had gone in the only way their legs had let them. Away. Shadow understood and jumped to deliver the blow to break the beast's back.

Then he felt pain all across his body. A scream pierced the forest. He was suspended in air for a second before falling and being hit by this pain again. And again. He fell and realized his false move. He had forgotten about the scorpion tail. The enormous barb had just impaled him three times. He cursed again before blacking out.

Twilight watched as Shadow fell. Screaming in complete horror. She was about to rush out wen Luna stopped her. "Stay to the side. Let me handle this." she heard the moon goddess say. She saw Luna step up and levitate her crown. She tossed it away and a dark aura enveloped her. Her horn started to shine with a great light before turning to the same deep red that Shadow's and Knuckles' horns shone as they used magic. Except hers was more wild. Nightmare moon hadn't used this. This was her own magic in it's full. She shut her eyes for a second before they opened again filled with nothing but darkness. Celestia stepped back and Twilight felt she should too. But she didn't want to.

Luna's horn filled and her wings opened in full. Then a blast of energy went at the manticore. Twilight heard a whisper, "Get Shadow." Luna charged full on while the beast charged back. They were about to collide when Luna disappeared and reappeared behind it. Her horn lit up and rocks began to fall from the sky.

Rainbow Dash stopped and saw the pieces of debris flying downwards. Something was up. Hopefully it will go well without them.

Twilight ran out, dodging the flaming rocks, to get Shadow. The forest was coated in blood and flesh by now. Twilight's stomach couldn't take too much more of this. Then she saw Shadow.

Miraculously he was still alive even with the three full holes in his body. This would require a bit more than just magic to heal. Blood was pouring from them. Honestly, Twilight didn't know how he was alive. She picked him up and began to run back to Celestia.

Luna was dealing magic blast after blast to the beast. Then she fell. Her wing was caught on a branch. The beast took this opportunity and smashed her into a tree. Things cracked. It wasn't the tree.

The manticore started to stumble when a new target appeared. In the form of a hoof to the face. Sonic finally had forced himself to come out. At least stall for time.

Twilight thought. "Great out two attacking mages down. What else can go wrong?" Then the last thing she would have ever expected to see appeared. The assassin that the other group was after came out and sliced the beasts' head off. It struggled as the blood gushed, creating a pool on the forest floor. Then it fell and let the mist go. Twilight was in awe for two reasons. One: did that pony just help them? Two: it was _that_easy? Her first question was answered rapidly as she saw the dark stallion run toward Sonic. He wasn't here for punch and cookies; he just needed to kill the thing to free the mist. Sonic was prepared and hit the assassin twice in the nose before it disappeared in a flash of light. Twilight could tell he had just jumped universes for some odd reason. Someone would have to follow. And who were the other party chasing?

Twilight then saw the mist slowly rise and break into four. It sped toward Twilight, Shadow, Luna and Celestia. Then blackness.

Sonic saw the mist hit the four ponies as they suddenly disappeared. He knew he was going to have to catch the party after the fake assassin before something happened. Then go after the real thing.

* * *

><p>Appleblossom moved her area of influence to Canterlot and focused on Sunset Sky next. She knew it was just two more ponies before she had less magic-stressful activities for a period of time. She built her power. The master emerald began to react again.<p>

Sunset Sky looked on. All of them were turning to her. Thunder looked in awe before she saw what he noticed. She was glowing brightly. She turned and looked and saw that Celestia and Luna were watching from the balcony. All of them, other than Thunder, looked sad and knew something. They had something in this and she wanted to know what.

It was too late to ask questions. For the next thing she saw was blackness and seven ponies floating in a void. All of which looked familiar. They came into view and she saw Twilight, Shadow, Rarity and Rouge floating aimlessly while talking. Celestia and Luna were absolutely still and Amethyst was there. Completely aware and looking around.


	35. Chapter 30: Black on Blue

First: I'll make something clear about transporting characters into the void:

They _**aren't**_ coming back in the main storyline directly until everyone else gets there. Twilight may come up as she gathers information about different things but otherwise the void is sealed. So yes, my birthday present to Sonic was get Shadow and Twilight the [Censored by Ditzy publishing company] out of _**his**_ story (Its everyones but its his present so shhhh). Finally I can get focused on the other characters. I mean how many characters have I used so far until I get Shadow, Twilight and Rainbow Dash out of the picture of their location (Rouge and Rarity)? Maneuvering eighteen wait... nineteen characters is a utter pain.

Sega should have thought of this ages ago. But I'm copyrighting the void.

Second: Twilight has been demoted to history device and clear-up-apparent-continuity-error device for a time. But realize we are still reading from a book therefore we need to separate the book from what's going on in Twilight's mind while she is sorting through things. The line breaks like the ones below authors notes will signal it.

Third: I will be putting out a re-write of the first chapters soon.

* * *

><p>Sonic thought long and hard. He needed to go after the group and warn them but the others wouldn't know what to do. He rolled his eyes. And that would be different from if he stayed? He decided to head back to the group just to tell them what happened.<p>

Zecora stepped out of the shadows she was hidden in. With her were were two royal pegasus guards. Sonic gasped. The zebra looked somewhat sad but the guards were nothing but, "Where are the princesses and our comrade?" they demanded.

Sonic took a deep breath. It would probably come to fis- er I mean hoofcuffs. "I have no idea where Celestia nor Luna are. As for your guard she is tracking down an assassin and I'm about to go stop her."

The guards growled, "Tell us the truth! Where are the princesses?"

Zecora jumped suddenly and let a odd thing from her cape fly. The air was filled with smoke. When it lifted the guards were coughing furiously and Zecora had stuffed her hood into her mouth. She stepped a little away and spit it out. The guards were coughing near to death and Sonic looked in awe. "Coughing gas mostly for

Escaping snakes and manticores.

And as I can plainly see

Manticore repellant is what you need."

Sonic stared a bit before getting his cocky smile once again. "Thanks a lot, I guess

But now we are in a real mess." He pointed his hoof to the scowls the guards were giving in-between coughs. Now they definitely hated them too.

"Here is something to try in this plight,

While they are choking give them a light." Zecora said.

Sonic gave up trying to come up with rhymes to counter her. Instead he though for a second before sitting by the guards. "Look I'm dead serious that I don't know where the princesses are. They could be anywhere from a alternate dimension to dead. I do know what happened though. Its a long story."

The guards nodded in-between coughs. Sonic lay down and told them what he gathered from the midnight escape, the assassination attempt and what had happened that related. He finished off by saying, "There is a whole lot more to this story but I'll spare you."

The guards had stopped coughing for a moment. One of them said, "So you are saying that we can't get to the princesses due to a monster that resides somewhere?"

* * *

><p>Twilight was standing in a plain as a pony. Grass as far as the eye could see. This was not what she was expecting when she was hit. She thought of Shadow. Was he okay? She thought but noticed something odd about her memories. It was like they expanded forever. The plain shifted depending on what she thought on.<p>

She thought of the battle that had just transpired and there was the complete view and it was happening. She wondered if she could see what was happening there now and she saw Sonic, Zecora and two royal guards talking to one another. "This is amazing." Twilight cried and started searching through memories of everything she could think of. All the things history books were unclear on she could see happen right in front of her! Twilight screamed in joy. If she was dead, please no pony revive her.

* * *

><p>The guards agreed to go to the others and tell them what happened. While Zecora demanded to go with Sonic. Sonic finally decided to let her. Zecora took a strange device and started doing very strange things before producing a blade and sliced at Sonic's hoof. Sonic yelped and looked menacingly at Zecora. She placed it on the ground before picking it up again and placing it in a vial of something.<p>

She repeated the process this time with a piece of the manticore's tail. She put it in a different vial. She shook them a bit then looked at Sonic, "There is a method that is true

To this madness I tell you."

Sonic stared at her, "I should hope so! That hurts."

Zecora took the potion and drank it. This disgusted Sonic but he had heard about the whole "Earth magic" rot one day as he mistakenly went to Tails' house and got smacked with a lecture from Twilight after making a joke which Shadow then un-lectured him about.

Zecora tossed away the vial as she was surrounded by light for a brief second, "The point of that was, and this is true,

To get the speed from you.

As for the tail of manticore,

I have strength but you always need more."

Sonic was getting a headache from being near Zecora. He also still thought that was all rot. "Lets go." he got out before dashing after the others. Surprisingly it wasn't long till Zecora came back. Then she started running faster. Sonic started to think maybe it wasn't just rot. He zoomed on with Zecora doing the same. The others had around a twenty minute head start. Hoo boy...

Rainbow Dash felt that this was going way too slow. Forget the fact that Engessa had to replace her wings every so often, now she wanted a rest. They were already way behind the assassin and at this rate they would never catch them. Engessa sat down and began to cast a spell. After a while she said very bluntly, "We lost him."

Rainbow Dash looked furious, "Lost him? Lost him! How could we possibly lose him?"

"Calm down, hothead, its just the magic is acting weird and I'm getting one signal coming from a realistic location and the other is jumping all over the place like he is everywhere and nowhere."

Rainbow dash was mad. They had come all this way to be getting awful signals in their spells and not knowing where the person is. Great! Just great! She looked around. It was still dark, that was one of the strange things about the everfree, no matter how light it is outside, it is always dark. The owls were out and hooting while other strange creatures roamed.

Something stirred in the shadows. Applejack looked up and around. Nothing. Nothing at all. She heard the drip, drip of water on leaves. Then there was a slight rustle. Applejack was looking all around them. Rainbow Dash started looking too when she saw two eyes looking at them. Hollow eyes like that of a dead pony. Everyone was looking at them by now but they faded away. There was no denying it. Something was spying on them.

Knuckles turned to look behind them when he felt two hooves strike his face. He yelled and fell. Everyone turned and saw the eyes and that they belonged to a totally black pony. It was shifting it's body. Applejack rushed yo give it a kick but just fell due to the pony disappearing. Knuckle had gotten up and was on guard this time. Then he was kicked again before the pony materialized. Engessa was ready and cast a web of magic over the pony. But when it disappeared the net fell away.

Knuckles tried to sense the magic but he couldn't. As if it wasn't magic he was up against. He heard the guard draw her sword and Rainbow Dash snort. Those two would catch him. Knuckles felt another blow to the face and he finally blacked out.

Engessa swung her sword at the pony but the only thing it hit was Rainbow Dash. She hollered in pain at the gash in her side and she fell to the ground. Great. Two of them down. Engessa put away her sword and simply decided to kick the pony as it materialized. Applejack nodded. Good idea. They circled the two injured and looked around. The pony materialized again and tried to kick Applejack. This pony knew a thing or two about fighting and blocked it before delivering a swift kick to it's side. It flew away into a sharp kick by Engessa. The collision smashed it's skull. It lay on the ground before fading away. Applejack looked at the guard before lying down to tend to her friends.

Rainbow Dash was cut badly and Knuckles was no better off. His face was bleeding although miraculously it didn't break anything. They were getting to their feet and said they were okay. You just needed to look at them to see that they were obviously lying. Blood had once again stained Rainbow Dash's blue coat. Knuckles was just lucky for being blood red. Engessa was using that stupid tracking spell again. "Wait I'm getting something closer to us. It's just a kilometer away."

Rainbow Dash's ears perked up at this and she spread her wings. Ready to go. Even though she would probably pass out from blood loss in a few minutes. Applejack grunted at the pony to settle down a bit.

Sonic and Zecora came from the bushes. Rainbow dash huffed. Yup they were going too slowly. Sonic brushed himself off and checked his hoof, "How's the snipe hunt?"

Applejack looked at him, "The wha hunt?"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, "I thought you were staying with the others. And why is Zecora here?"

Sonic nodded, "I was before, well, Rainbow Dash remember the manticore Shadow killed during your midnight escape?" Dash nodded and her wings perked up. "He didn't kill it well enough. It got some nice revenge on Shadow, Twilight and the princesses though."

Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped, "Wait how are you sure it was the same one."

Sonic scratched his chin, "It was cut to pieces by rocks, had one eye missing and was hell-bent on killing Shadow."

Rainbow Dash thought before lying down again, "How are they?"

"He was impaled. Three times." the blue colt replied in a matter-of-fact way.

"That makes this gash I have in my side seem puny." She turned and stared at the guard

Sonic shrugged, "We all have bad things that follow us. For Shadow it's mortal injuries, for me it's people I try to help trying to kill me, for you it's friendly fire. See? Even."

Engessa stepped in, "What was that about the princesses?"

Zecora replied, "The darker one who is Nightmare Moon,

Started firing not a moment too soon.

But she was slow unfortunately,

And was crushed on a tree.

The one who represents the sun

Hollered and began to run.

But dark mist through the wind seared

And the four ponies disappeared."

Sonic rolled his eyes, "I got stuck with Dr. Seuss here after some of your friends attacked us. I thing we explained the situation to them well enough."

Engessa nodded, "Order number one is to protect Luna and Celestia. They failed at that."

Applejack got up, "Welp, I see you thar got out of a pickle. But whut about the manticore?"

Sonic's eyes widened, "Oh that's why we are here. You guys are on a wild goose chase!"

Rainbow Dash grunted, "Thanks for not using snipe hunt again."

Sonic shruggeed her off, "Well the manticore was killed, again, by the assassin you are after. This guy your chasing is a trap."

He said that not a moment to soon as out came the fake assassin. Unfortunately, it looked pretty deadly all the same.


	36. The Calm 1: Apples to Rainclouds

I'll be traveling for a week. This is mostly plot exposition. And I'm glad Appleblossom doesn't have as strong an accent as Applejack. Sheesh.

* * *

><p>Amethyst looked around the blackness. The only other person who seemed to be doing this was Sunset. Then a voice boomed. Or whispered. It was majestic, and feeble. As Amethyst put it, "It was every color mixed with every note mixed with every feeling."<p>

The voice said, "Where did you two come from?" Or at least it might have said it. In fact was there even a voice at all?

Sunset replied, "Where are we? Maybe we could tell you then."

The whatever it was replied in some way, "You are in the void. You weren't transported here by me. Another power must have. If you were brought by me you would be asleep. Dreaming like the others."

Sunset thought for a moment. Her eyes widened in shock, "You're- you're the beast!"

Silence penetrated for a moment, "True. It is true. I've been trying to kill your friends. I guess these are your friends."

Amethyst yelled out, "Why aren't you killing our parents now?"

A laugh was felt, or heard, or whatever. "Parents? Parents? Ah how interesting. Time travelers! How quaint. I'm not killing them because I have no real power in this realm as long as my power is trapped in the other worlds. My forces are unleashing it bit by bit and my army is growing and growing. Currently in the Equine realm I am using my shadow horses. Your friends stand no chance whatsoever."

Sunset finally saw the pieces in the story come together. Of course. She looked at her parents floating in the void. It was odd. When she looked they were clearly distinguishable but had no form. They weren't anything but you knew who it was. What was going in their minds?

Shadow woke up from a dream. He looked around himself. He was on the ARK as a hedgehog. But how could that be? He was being stabbed by the beast not moments earlier. He was sure he was dead. Was it all a dream? Something told him it wasn't.

He stepped forward into a long corridor. It was lit by computer buttons and monitors. All flashing constantly. The corridor opened into a large chamber with a computer screen in the middle. Shadow didn't remember this place.

The computer was covered with dust but was on. Shadow slowly started messing with it and the screen flickered and showed a program was running. Shadow watched as one by one his allies appeared on the screen. He maneuvered over a random one. Sonic. It brought up what was going on in his mind. Shadow braced himself. Chili dogs, running, fighting, grief, shock, adrenaline, chili dogs with french fries, cupcakes, friends, and an overlying feeling of fear.

Shadow facepalmed. Even now. Thinking of chili dogs, Sonic. He noticed there was another thing flashing. It said that this was not normal and most likely was caused by friends dying or going away before his eyes. Shadow thought of implications. Friends dying? Was he... dead?

He brushed away that thought and turned to the "Averages" tab. It wasn't too different. Take out the grief, shock and fear and replace it with two extra running focuses another chili dog and an overlying feeling of happiness and competitive spirit. This is the Sonic that handles everything. Possibly the only reason its different was due to the manticore. Or, you know, him being impaled thrice in front of him.

Rarity awoke in her bed in Ponyville. She stretched and looked around. The colors of her house were alive in the morning sun. Rarity prodded herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Or was she actually home at last? She looked and there was Ditzy on her normal mail route. Rainbow Dash was doing her flying exercises. This was ponyville and she was truly home. But something nagged her. She couldn't shake the feeling.

Rouge opened her eyes. She reached for her arm to find it was no longer in pain. She finally saw that she was in her apartment. What was going on? She could hear the people outside. She heard them gasp. Rouge had heard that gasp so many times and normally it was unimportant. It was just the people seeing Sonic and wondering what he is going to do. Normally it was just running around. But Sonic shouldn't be here. Something was up.

I guess you could say that Twilight was in heaven. Full knowledge of everything that ever happened. If there is a heaven. Thats pretty much where Twilight was.

* * *

><p>Appleblossom decided not transport Thunder right away. She would take the time to talk to him. She concentrated on the emerald and the general location.<p>

Thunder looked in horror at the empty space Sunset was once in. Eyes turned to him. He wanted to disappear. Be careful what you wish for. The world around him distorted. He saw the area right outside the Master emerald shrine. His hedgehog form was blue with his fathers spikes. Rainbow stripes were everywhere on them. He turned around and saw Appleblossom walking down the steps of the shrine.

Appleblossom organized her thoughts. What should she say and not say? Thunder ran up to her, "Sunset just disappeared when I was in Canterlot before I was transported here!"

Appleblossom shook her head, "I know."

Thunder was unfazed, "What is happening? Everyone suddenly appears and looks at me and Sunset and BANG she's gone."

"I know."

"How would you know?"

Appleblossom sighed, "I'm the one who transported her."

Thunder was a bit in shock, "WHY? WHERE?"

The clay echidna sat down. "Why? So the universe will not devolve into madness. Where? Umm do ya really wanta know?"

Thunder shook his head violently.

She sighed. "Okay. In the book. Do ya notice that wut actually happened after each of our parents and their friends were hit by the aura was never mentioned?"

Thunder nodded again.

"Well. What happened is they went to a place called the void. They were put into a deep sleep by coming there. None of them knew wut happened inside the void."

Thunder stared a bit, "So they were all sleeping in a void."

Appleblossom nodded. "All, that is, except two. They got in thar using a different means. When they got there all the others had already been transported. Following me so far?"

The blue hedgehog would be impatient but he was thoroughly curious, and scared. "Yes, I guess."

"The two who made it in the other way were Knuckles and Applejack. Mah parents."

"Wait the book says that they were attacked at the emerald Shrine!" Thunder said.

Appleblossom nodded, "Yes because everything that was written about after the false assassin attacked was distorted from the truth. But I'll get to that in a moment. Right now you are wonderin what all of this has to do with Sunset."

The tapping on the ground by Thunder's shoe signaled a clear yes.

"To get thar Knuckles and Applejack used the master emerald, the Cha-O energy well. Come with me."

She started walking back up the emerald shrine's steps and Thunder followed. He saw the emerald shattered but the pieces were floating around a light. Appleblossom stepped to the side and concentrated. An image appeared. The emerald shrine was shown in view. Up the stairs walked Knuckles. He took his fist and shattered the emerald. Thunder could have sworn that he saw a tear fly from his eye. It showed the emerald shattered but the light shone like it was now. Applebossom concentrated. For a second she opened her eyes in shock and Thunder saw Knuckles did the same thing. She turned. "He can see us." She started to close it as Knuckles began to gasp at what he saw.

Once it was closed Appleblossom turned. "Well when he got thar he saw four unknown people floatin in the void. The rest I can't tell you."

Thunder shook his head, "And Sunset?"

Appleblossom stamped her foot, "Ya ar getting on mah nerves. Do you not see the whole thing? If it were a snake it would have bittn ya thrice! Ugh!" she paused for a second, "The four people were ya, me, Sunset and Amethyst."

Thunder gasped.

"I sent them to the void." Silence aroused, "Chew on that while I begin to transport you."

"Wait. What is wrong with the story?"

Appleblossom sighed and began to use the emerald. She welled up power and slowly Thunder began to hear the real story told in his mind.


	37. The Calm 2: Parting ways

Okay quick thing: Get ready for story sideparts and useless stuff overload. I want to slow down the pace a bit.

Second: IRL part 2. Kim and Alexi are real people. But Rone is not. I go by Rone occasionally on the interwebz but in no way am I self-inserting. Just using a nickname. I would have made myself 20% cooler and very different. Also Kim and Alexi are not necessarily like that IRL. I just thought I would insert them for kicks and giggles. Changing their names to pony names? They deserve it.

And finally. Back to GUN again. Yippie ki-yay.

* * *

><p>Thunder heard a voice in his head. "Okay you are probably wondering a few things. One: Why Amethyst? Rarity nor her descendant has anything to do with the ancient rhyme. Well they do in practice. It was something a bit unforeseen. You'll see. Literally.<p>

Second: Why are we going? I won't say that. I'm sorry. But its for the best. I'm not jumping for joy.

And finally: What will happen? Well I hate to say this but there will be pain. Lots of pain. In different ways. I will spare you the details as you would probably tackle me to stop it. Be glad I'm not telling.

But while I transport you, hear the story told the right way. It originally has the guards turning out to be shadow ponies and attacking the group, transporting them to the void, and the fake assassin teleporting Knuckles and Applejack to the shrine where they are attacked while sending the others to the void. But none of that is true. Well somewhat. It's a whole lot more complicated than that. Truth is stranger than fiction."

* * *

><p>Fluttershy regained consciousness. She shook her head. Number one on her list of things to do after this is over: learn to stand violence and scary things. She heard Cream call out, "She's awake!" The girl was a saint. And her pet was just so cute.<p>

She felt someone speaking over her. Ah it was Vanilla. She couldn't help but feel that Vanilla understood her. She was the closest Fluttershy had had to a mother in a long time. Then she heard Pinkie Pie start talking. She stood up and asked what happened. The three who were caring for her truthfully told her that they didn't know. They had left but Sonic went back for the four who were still there and never came back. Fluttershy nodded and was reasonably scared.

They heard Trixie call out, "Something's coming!" They all looked toward the direction she was pointing. They heard the clanking of metal slowly approaching. Tails, Amy and Trixie got into position in case it wasn't friendly. They saw white among the green leaves and out came two royal pegasi guards. They all drew in breath and Tails called out, "Please. We are friends. Don't hurt us."

They heard one respond, "We aren't here to harm you. On the contrary we are here to help you. But first you want to know what happened to your friends no doubt."

Amy stepped up, "Y- yes, where are they?"

The second guard called, "The blue pony went with a zebra to get the others. The princesses are missing along with Celestia's student and the black mage."

Spike called out, "Twilight's missing?"

The first one spoke up, "Yes, she is. I might as well tell my name in Honrar. The other with me is San. Do you trust us any more?"

All of them wanted to say, "No, teling us your names doesn't make us trust you any more what are you thinking?" but they couldn't make themselves do it. The guards seemed to give off a feel of trustworthyness, purity and loyalty. Unlike the ones controlled by the universe beast. They gave off a air of backstabbing, revenge, unloyalty. Those corrupted seemed those who held grudges or hated other. Some willingly accepted it. Some struggled. But the guards seemed the opposite. Something made you trust them. Like a different force was guiding them. one that merely showed the path but did not force them.

Sonic eyed the assassin. Rainbow Dash got up and despite the immense amount of pain began to circle it. All eyes were on the fake. Engessa drew her sword. A quick glare from Rainbow Dash made her put it away. They all knew it was about to make a move. The water kept dripping onto the forest floor. The noise was beginning to drive everyone mad. The ponies stared. Everyone knew that it only took one false move.

It lunged at Knuckles and Applejack. The others jumped into action. Rainbow Dash and Sonic began circling it bucking it every which way. It felt solid. It shifted a bit and it was sent flying toward Engessa. She turned around a bit and bucked it away, toward the two ponies it originally lunged at. By then it was too late and a light surrounded it. When it arrived at the two they all disappeared.

There was silence. Engessa spoke up, "Why are they targeting those two?" No pony answered. She asked again, "And what about that shadowy pony?" Again no response. Light came to her eyes, "What if there are more than just that one? What if there was an army?" Now everyone was in a stunned silence. "We will need more than just us. Maybe even more than the royal guard can offer."

"Idle talk, all of this.  
>We are playing a game of hit and miss.<br>We have no details on our enemy.  
>The only thing we can do is be ready." Zecora said.<p>

Sonic spoke up, "We need to follow Knuckles and Applejack. I would only guess that they were taken to my world. We should also get back to the group." They all agreed and started walking in silence. The only noise being the wind and the dripping of blood and water.

Tails asked the guards, "What do you mean missing?"

Honrar answered, "Ask the blue colt. He didn't exactly say either. He should be coming back soon."

Fluttershy welled up the courage to ask, "So... where is he?"

San responded, "Getting the rest of the group and our comrade from a wild goose chase. They are being lured into a trap."

Trixie called out, "Then the Great and Powerful Trixie and these other less great and powerful people should start going toward them so we can get there earlier." No pony denied that that wasn't half bad a plan (Although disconcerting that Trixie was being their planner). They agreed to go.

It didn't take long to get back to the place they were at. Everyone tried not to pay attention that they were walking in rivers of blood or they were surrounded by flesh or that a manticore who was crushed and torn was cut in half. But you know how hard it is to not think of something you are forcing yourself not to think about. They started walking away when Fluttershy turned and looked at Pinkie. She had something in her mouth and a crown on her head. "Pinkie, where did you get those?"

Pinkie put the thing in her mouth away, "The crown? I found it lying around and the thing I found is something cool. The things on these metal bars slide back and forth. You can do so many things with it!"

Honrar turned around and saw the things and gasped, "San, look! It's Luna's crown and abacus!"

San turned and saw it too, "Oh no, oh no, Abacus is cheating on her again!" he said with his voice dripping with sarcasm and apparently wasn't impressed.

Honrar was not amused, "Forget the abacus for a second. Her crown! You know what that means!"

San thought long and hard. His eyes widened in shock. Fluttershy was interested, "Whats so significant?"

Honrar answered, "The crowns are restraining amulets. They are designed to keep the princesses from losing control of their power. If Luna removed hers then she has powers comparable to that of-"

Fluttershy ended his sentence, "Nightmare Moon."

San nodded, "Unrestrained black magic. She wouldn't do that unless circumstances were extreme. There was a large fight." They all thought of what might have happened. But after a while they started walking again. Just focus on whats going on now. They would get details later. But tensions rose.

It didn't take long before they saw the other party coming. They called out and the others started heading over. They then noticed that they were missing Applejack and Knuckles. Then they noticed that Rainbow Dash was wounded. They ran to each other and began to talk. Fluttershy and Cream rushed over to Rainbow Dash. "W- what happened?" the yellow pegasus squeaked.

"Oh nothing. Just a little friendly steel to the side." She said nodding at Engessa, who was discussing something with the guards.

After Sonic and Zecora told all that they knew to the others, they, along with Rainbow Dash and Engessa, told of what happened with the other group. Then Sonic stepped up, "We need to return to our world to see what is happening. If this world is turned upside-down by the beast what will ours be like?"

Zecora finally said something on the subject, "Another way than magic black and white can be used to go.

All you need is someone who knows everything we need to know."

Trixie spoke, "I guess you can take them without having to have the Great and Powerful Trixie take them? Great! Less work."

Zecora nodded. Rainbow Dash spoke, "I want Fluttershy and Tails to come. They would be very helpful." Fluttershy squeaked at this.

Engessa spoke up now, "We have another mission. If the shadow ponies really are a threat we may need more force than our guard can give. I have an idea but I will need somepony to come with me." Spike, Amy, Pinkie, Cream and Vanilla volunteered.

Trixie asked, "What about the Great and-"

Sonic interrupted, not wanting to hear her title yet again, "You can come with us."

The guards said they had something to do as well so they all parted ways.

Knuckles and Applejack woke up from the sleep they were put in after teleporting. Everything was blurry at first but they noticed each other. Both echidnas again. The clothing thing Tails had used still worked. Thankfully. They noticed their surroundings. It was bright but soon their eyes adjusted. Then they groaned. They were back at the G.U.N. headquarters. They saw they were in a room, more specifically on a bed. There was a desk and a small bathroom in the room. They finally realized they were in the bed together. They jumped up and ran off blushing so much it stood out even on Knuckles' red skin. Down the hall they heard wheels. They knew they were in no position for a fight especially with Knuckles still hurt. Although it looked like he had some sort of bandage on.

The wheels were joined by footsteps. Then the door slowly creaked open. Knuckles gasped. There was a soldier on foot with a gun in-hand; another soldier in a wheelchair with his helmet and most armor off. But the most surprising was the tall figure clad in a suit. It was the president. Knuckles didn't feel like saluting and Applejack didn't know what was the big deal. The one in the wheelchair had something in his lap. It was golden. He wheeled in and looked at the two, "Calm down. I won't try to shoot you this time."

Knuckles growled, "Why should we trust you?"

The man nodded, "The commander, or shell of who was once the commander, is dead. I don't want to hurt you."

Applejack and Knuckles weren't convinced. The president stepped up, "If you want foolish revenge for your treatment then consider it done. Every single one of the people who were attacking you is dead trying to help you. Except Marcus who was just lucky."

The two echidnas were dumbstruck. Marcus started, "And just barely escaped. I confronted the commander to get the Chaos emerald he had and was nearly killed. It was a miracle someone found me and I wasn't dead. I was shot in the legs. My comrades weren't so lucky."

Knuckles stuttered a bit, "W- well why did- how- who?"

Marcus understood, "Rouge and a bird who I guess is a friend of yours stayed behind when you vanished. We teamed up to try to get the emerald and to stop the commander. Oh and here it is." He tossed the emerald to Knuckles. "The commander left it with me for some weird reason."

The president spoke again, "When I got here I was greeted by Marcus. On our way we found you two lying asleep in the hallway. We brought you to his room."

Knuckles shook his head, "What happened exactly?"

Marcus nodded and recounted everything he knew. He finished by saying that Rouge and her bird friend had disappeared and the commander was found dead in the drone control room. Knuckles sighed and the two echidnas told them all that had happened to them in the past month and a bit. At the end the president thought, "So you are saying there is something running around that most likely possessed the commander and is after you and those, um, ponies. And you, miss, are one of them."

Applejack nodded. Marcus sighed. "What have I gotten myself into?"

Applejack grunted, "I think all of us are wonderin' that, sugahcube."

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy noticed that their rings were still on. They hadn't noticed them since they got used to their feeling. Zecora started drawing things. She explained that earth magic wasn't superstition or curses just magic invoked a different way. She also explained that most was temporary but varied in duration. The speed potion had worn off but the mystery potion she had made from the manticore flesh was still in effect.

Fluttershy welled up the courage to ask Rainbow Dash why she had wanted her along. "I don't want you leaving my side." was the reply she recieved. It was truly heartfelt. Throught her life they had been like sisters. The recent times had kept them away from each other and niether liked it. If they could stay together now it was ideal. Fluttershy thought back. How she was an orphan. Abandoned by her parents until she was found by Rainbow Dash. She was taken to Rainbow Dash's family and raised alongside her as an older sister. Even later when they drifted apart in their residences they both kept close. It brought a tear to her eye thinking about it.

After a while Zecora said she was ready. They all stepped near her. Tails used the clothing sensing thing on her, just in case. She remarked at his knowledge. Then she began saying a few words before a light began arising and transported them.

Rone was walking with his guests. The three men were going over a hill for a shortcut to the place they were going. He turned to his friend, "So how do you like it here Kim and Alexi?"

Alexi, as he was being called, groaned. This wasn't the name he asked to be called by but his host insisted, "I'm fine. Nothing especially strange."

Kim continued, he was snickering a bit, "Besides your weird story from earlier. Seriously stop taking things too seriously. You were looking at examples to draw humanizations. So what if a girl who looked like the Twilight you were looking at came out it-"

Rone interrupted, "But then I had other humanizations open to see how they draw them, and when I pulled up one of Sonic a guy who looked like him came out! That's just plain freaky!"

Alexi shook his head, "Look we are here for the convention. We thank you for bringing us here and paying for everything. We really don't need it though."

Rone smiled, "Hey you're both friends of friends. When I heard you two were trying to come I couldn't resist."

They all kept walking toward the convention. They were all talking before a light shining in the distance. They walked toward it out of curiosity. In the clearing appeared a black lady with a cloak and loose clothes and black and white hair. With her was a girl wearing jeans and blue short sleeves and had rainbow hair. Along with another boy dressed in similar clothes, although he had blue spiky hair. Rone seemed especially interested in him. A short boy wearing orange clothes with same color hair and light baggy pants, a young woman wearing a yellow sweater and jeans with pink hair and a lady dressed in a magician's outfit with a cool hat were with them. All of them were lying down The men's jaws flew open.

The girl picked herself up and said in a familiar voice, "Umm wrong world, Zecora. Hey isn't this the human world?"

The older boy did the same and in a slightly less familiar voice but recognizable, "Hey so we are! And look, I've seen that guy before in the library!" With the last sentence he pointed at Rone. Alexi and Kim looked at him while he stared in awe.

The young woman with pink hair looked their way, "Umm... they are looking at us strangely."

Rone forced himself to walk up to the group, "Uh I- I'm R- Rone. And you people are?"

The girl responded, "I'm Rainbow Dash." And to just prove it she sprouted her wings from seemingly nowhere. "And this is Sonic, Zecora, Fluttershy, Tails and Trixie."

The lady who seemed to be Trixie responded, "The Great and Powerful Trixie to you."

The others had inched up. Rone continued, "My, my friends are A- Alexi an- and Kim. Um..."

Fluttershy squeaked a bit. Even though they seemed just as shy as she was normally. The one who was called Alexi said, "Um... Miss R- Rainbow Dash, may I take a picture with you?"

Rainbow Dash looked puzzled but agreed. Soon enough they had a few pictures (Mostly her making faces and him looking awestruck). Kim had asked to take a few with Fluttershy. After a while she complied and they had a few taken. Rone just wanted a group picture with them since he didn't have any favorites. The boy who was Tails told them he had something in his pocket which was copying the pictures so the group had personal copies.

The men still were recovering from shock when Zecora told them she was ready to go and she had fixed what needed to be. The grouped gathered around and after a while they disappeared in a bunch of light.

Alexi stared for a bit into space before he said, "Rone, for this once I will let you call me by any parts of my legal name for the rest of the day. Go wild."

Rone snapped out of it for a second just to say, "Okay Rainbow Dash."

Rone, Rainbow Alexi Dash and Kim, whose middle name was Fluttershy, thought about what just happened before deciding not to tell anyone and heading to the convention. Part of them was curious and extremely excited. Part of them wanted to think that today never happened. Either way, the day just got at least two hundred percent cooler. They debated about hurrying on. The convention was cool and all but this was more shocking. All they would miss by staring a bit more was a lecture. They thought "Hippocampi, Stop Calling Them Sea Ponies." was okay to skip.

Engessa and the group with her started walking toward Canterlot. Amy asked where they were going. Engessa chuckled, "We have a stop to make in our journey to get clearance."

Spike was puzzled, "Clearance for what?"

The unicorn guard smiled, "We'll need passage from a relative if we are going to get any help."

Vanilla spoke up, "From who will we need help? And what relative?"

Engessa looked back, "Who else? Marnax and his nephew. I think they owe your friends one."

* * *

><p>Celestia awoke. She saw light, lots of it. But that was it. She looked down to see she was lying on light. She got to her hooves and began to walk randomly. After a while of wandering she noticed something in the distance. It seemed to be floating in the light.<p>

As she approached it it became clear what it was. A chess board. Celestia studied it. It seemed perfectly normal at first glance. But Celestia looked deeper. The pieces began to lose definite forms and she realized there were more black pawns than there should be on a chess board. A black rook was in a pawn shield. But white seemed to have the upper hand strategy-wise. And the game looked like it couldn't have begun too long ago.

"Yes, it is a sight. The first piece exchanges should happen soon enough, little sister." a voice said. Celestia turned and realized there was a greater light coming from white's side. It took her a while to digest what she was hearing. Her eyes widened. She knew who was playing the white pieces.

Equestria.


	38. The Calm 3: The War of the Chaos Theory

Engessa asked to step away for a moment. The others were puzzled but they let her. She disappeared into a patch of trees. The group saw a blinding light. Then there was silence. After a while they saw a form coming back. When it emerged it was an unicorn stallion in full royal armor with Engessa's colors. The others looked puzzled when the stallion said, "Ah great. I feel better to have that reversed. Ugh!" The others looked in wonder. The stallion chuckled, "Ah don't look that way. It's a little guard spell we have. Changing appearance. Tensions are high since the attempt on the princesses lives so all guards are changing their looks to make it seem we have more guards than we actually do if someone was looking." All of them thought that it was clever, if a bit unsettling.

* * *

><p>Celestia was stunned. Equestria? But she was dead for over fifteen-thousand years. The voice seemed to read her thoughts, "Fifteen thousand years, four months and lets see... nine... sixteen, yes, sixteen days to be exact." Celestia was awestruck. "When you are dead you have nothing better to do." Equestria chuckled. "Here, let me try to make this place hold a form."<p>

The light dissipated and instead was a room by a fireplace. Celestia looked again and there was a great light shining by the chess board. Equestria said, "I won't try to hold a form myself as it just drains energy since you already know who I am."

Celestia didn't feel like talking but instead looked again at the chess board. She realized the pieces had changed. Although some still looked like pawns and other pieces some looked like people. The white king was Luna; he white queen was Celestia. While one white rook was plain the other looked like Twilight. Two pawns had become two royal guards. And the black side seemed odd. One piece was cornered by herself and that seemed to be a bishop representation of Nightmare Moon. A large amount of pawns seemed like regular ponies but shrouded in blackness, including the ones surrounding the rook. The rook looked invisible but you could see shimmering in it's place.

Celestia knew what this represented, "The chess board you used as an example to me. But I thought Mother was white."

"Yes. But I didn't understand that I was who was to guide the world. But this is all an example. This isn't what's really happening."

Celestia thought, "Wait if I'm seeing you. I must be..."

Equestria laughed, "No, little sister, just dreaming. A dream I have influenced as you wait out the battle."

Celestia's eyes widened, "Battle?"

Equestria nodded, "You are on the battlefield of one of the many battles of good and evil. But this is much larger scale than the rest. This is a war. The war of the universes. The war that will show no bounds in light and dark spirits. Both fight equal and die equal. Whether they are fueled by the magic or manipulate it as such."

She paused, "The War of the Chaos Theory."

Celestia winced. She knew what Equestria was about to get at. That theory was made by her to get rid of certain people right after the Nightmare Moon incident. "Well let me go so I can lead my people!"

Equestria gave a soft neigh, "Little sister, you haven't been ruling the land well. Why should I let you out? No, we have much to talk about. Others will lead the fight."

The place changed to a court room with Equestria on the judge's seat. "Lets review your major charges."

* * *

><p>Rarity walked into the streets. It seemed normal. Everypony was there and seemed happy. Like nothing had happened. Rarity blinked. Something was wrong with this perception she was having.<p>

She rushed out to Twilight's house, expecting it to be empty. She threw open the door and saw her friend busy studying. Twilight turned, "Hello Rarity, what's going on?"

Rarity looked awestruck. Like everything was normal, "What happened since I left you?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Left me? What the hay are you talking about?"

Rarity looked around again, "Where's Shadow?"

Twilight had a concerned look on her face, "Who is Shadow? Rarity, are you okay?"

Rarity didn't feel okay at all. She thought something was wrong. This wasn't Ponyville. It couldn't be.

* * *

><p>Amethyst was terrified, simply terrified. He looked at his mother with pity. The mare was a saint. She was always kind as she raised him herself. It was probably a nightmare for her as she brought up her boy as an only parent. You see, Rarity's taste in men may stem from appearances but she was no fool. She knew when a stallion (or man or any other animal depending on where she was) was a scumbag. Or if he was good.<p>

Except for one night. Trixie had convinced her to come with her to Las Vegas in the human's world some four years after the incident. Just that once. It wasn't pretty.

Now I'm not saying Trixie is a drunk... anymore (Tails whipped her into shape during a excursion through the universes they once took many years ago.) But she insisted on stopping on different famous bars. Rarity wasn't adverse to a drink or two but she didn't expect the power of the alcohol she had. Then she realized it was drugged. She ran out and dissapeared.

Trixie said she found her half-undressed in a alleyway the next morning. It was sad but she has been taken and beaten, and um, how to put it lightly, abused. Rarity claims to have no memory of it. Trixie says that it is probably for the best. It was a secret kept by only her and Trixie. But the aftermath was no secret if you looked on her. Rarity moved away for a long time to hide this fact. It was the only time she had ever felt like that.

When Amethyst was just two they returned to Ponyville. Nopony questioned what happened. After a time it became normal and nopony cared about Rarity. Rarity had re-established bonds and restarted her business. All while caring for Amethyst.

He had grown up with only his mother and now seeing a younger her floating helpless under something's control brought tears to his eyes. He could do nothing to return.

* * *

><p>Shadow stepped back. He felt there was something wrong about this. Delving into someone's thoughts. Knowing their personal feelings and secrets. But something reassured him. A voice, "Hedgehog, do not fear. Use it to know. Use it to comfort."<p>

Shadow spun around, "Who's there?"

Silence. Then the voice spoke again, "Hedgehog, you are not one of my subjects. Why should I reveal myself to you, dark warrior?"

Shadow felt that he knew who this was. He opened his mouth to speak but he was interrupted, "You need not ask questions. I am Equestria, the the one sent by the Goddess as well as her daughter."

Shadow understood. He didn't feel like saying anything else so he turned back to the computer screen. It once again showed all the ponies and others in the group. He decided to choose Rainbow Dash. To know at least. Her thoughts popped up. It was mostly fun, uplifting things with a occasional unhappy thought. Shadow found that odd, even if she didn't witness the manticore attack. Come to think of it her demeanor never changed even in the worst circumstances, like killing the assassin. She had done it with no sign of remorse. But killing another of your kind should bring great stress if it was a first kill.

Then Shadow got it. It wasn't the first kill.

His mind raced. Now cocky he understood; reckless, yes, but a killer? Then he took a little liberty of trying to find that time. He found a time that would somewhat fit the general feeling. He then realized he wouldn't be able to know the context. It was possibly wasn't something major.

He kept the date in mind and he went out. He selected Twilight next. Two odd options appeared, dream and communicate. Dream seemed odd and Twilights general feeling were cheerful. So he tried it.

"Dream:

Influenced by Equestria.

Has access to fully know what happened in any point in the past."

Shadow thought that that would be useful if he could communicate. So he pressed that button and waited a second.

* * *

><p>Twilight's head was swimming with information. She had only gone into recent events but it was magnificent what she discovered. Something formed in the distance and she turned toward it. The figure approached and came to be Shadow, in hedgehog form. She was puzzled on how she could be in one form and he another. Let alone how he got here. When he came up he saw the look and he chuckled, "Ah, my little pony, didn't expect me here?"<p>

Twilight gave a jump, 'Wait! Your wounds! They are gone! And if I'm seeing you then we are both-"

Shadow shook his head, "Not dead, dreaming. I think. To tell the truth I only know you are. I might be dead for all I know. But never mind that."

Twilight found it hard to just "Never mind that." How could you say that after just saying you are possibly dead? "What are you doing here?"

Shadow nodded, "Well a little birdie told me your dream was influenced by Equestria to let you see any point in time vividly."

The filly nodded cautiously but then stopped, "Wait, Equestria? Who the hay is Equestria?"

Shadow looked at her in a puzzled manner for once, "You know Celestia and Luna's sister?"

Twilight shook her head, "They never had one." Then she stopped, "Oh you mean that Equestria! Shadow, you do know it's an old pony tale."

Shadow opened his mouth but then the voice said, "I really don't like being called an old pony tale you know"

Shadow was annoyed to say the least, "Will this become a regular thing with you? Interrupting me every other time I open my mouth to talk to about you [censored by Equestria]it!... Oh great you are going to do that too! Sheesh!"

Twilight wasn't exactly as rude, "Yo- You're Equestria?"

The voice laughed, "Shadow, take a joke. I've been dead fifteen thousand years, let me have some fun."

Shadow grumbled, "Like elder like younger."

Twilight asked again, "You are Equestria?"

The voice was silent for a moment, "No, Twilight, I'm Santa Claus. Ho ho ho."

Twilight didn't take kindly to this voice mocking her, "I would expect someone a bit more regal to be watching over me."

The voice laughed, "Well, I'm what ya got. Seriously lighten up. There is a war going on and you're on the most important battlefield. Be happy!"

Both Twilight and Shadow said at the same time, "How is that supposed to encourage us?"

Equestria seemed to be thinking, "Because I'm your general?"

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Oh we feel much better."

The voice sighed, "Why couldn't a fun pony like Pinky Pie come here first? But nooo I got Mr. and Ms. Serious. You guys are no fun."

Twilight cleared her throat, "Is there a purpose to you coming here?"

The voice laughed, "Oh, Twilight, not everything has a purpose. But I will come back soon with one." With that the voice became absolutely silent.

Shadow breathed a sigh of relief.

Twilight lay still for a moment. "Did you have a purpose for coming here?"

Shadow nodded, "I have a few dates that might interest you."

Twilight flipped her mane back, "Let's hear 'em"

* * *

><p>Celestia looked at her sister in shock, "What are you doing!"<p>

Equestria sighed, "Sister, I have to say you disappointed me."

"How? How did I disappoint you? Tell me."

The world shifted to reveal Celestia just a few years after Equestria died.

Young Celestia looked out over all the land. She was extremely sad. The past four years had been nightmares. Her people didn't respect her and worse, resented her. They didn't trust their new head princess ever since the incident many years back. You would think they would forgive and forget. But no. Well she had an idea. It was night and Luna had just taken charge so she slipped away.

All through the night in every land books about the times before her reign were taken and destroyed. Celestia knew that in due time everyone would forget her mistakes.

But her older self knew that that was the greatest mistake she had made. It worked and nopony knew about her mistakes prior in due time. But nopony knew of the golden age either. It had shifted the greatest times into the realm of fiction in just a few generations.

Celestia cried out, "I was young. I didn't know better."

Equestria gave her a stern look, "You were over ten thousand years old then, Celestia. I don't want that excuse. Even if your Coming was only a few years before. It doesn't excuse you."

Then the scene shifted again. Luna was in her room crying. Celestia was in a horrible mood and yelled and screamed at her. This was the last straw. She had put up with it long enough. For almost five hundred years she had to listen to her sister complain and yell at her for things she couldn't do anything about. Then insult her handiwork in the night sky.

She was going to revolt. She had gathered supporters among nobles, guards and commoners alike. Now she was going to overthrow her sister at the day before the summer sun celebration. She called in loyal guards to prepare her transport.

Celestia winced as the scene changed again. She was in the battle of the two sisters. It had already destroyed the temple and now had moved outside the Everfree to the castle itself. Nightmare Moon and her army was winning. Celestia winced, it was the morning of the summer sun celebration. And the Five-hundredth anniversary of her reign. Now was the time. She readied the elements to seal her own creation. Nightmare Moon appeared behind her. Brief dialogue was exchanged but Celestia couldn't hear it. Her younger self slowly slipped toward the elements but something obstructed her view and she couldn't see what was happening.

The scene changed once more to her standing over the balcony of the castle. She heard herself say, "Henceforth, the wise men have come to this: Those who have control over the Cha-O type magic are inherently evil. The conspirators are to be banished and any black magi are to go with them if you know whats good for you."

Celestia welled in tears. She had been foolish and brash. Annoyed at the slightest thing. Even later she put out things that made all this pass into a old pony tale like incorrect information on how things were run. She was upset at her sister when she should have been toward herself. Celestia lay down as the scene changed into the court room once again.

And she began to cry.


	39. The Calm 4: Midnight Shade

Why are this fic's chapters longer than my oneshots? And why do they take three times longer?

I'm consolidating the Void and The Truth's into one continuity due to um... crossings... Also some things may not make sense. Just trust that I thought of that... Like actions. They become clear.

Also I get a bit metaphysical. Take anything as you will. I just needed to set up an explanation for something. And this is a lot of explanations. I need to set up a few things before we get to the meat. Also, sorry guys in Mobius, you are pushed aside due to "I NEED TO GET THIS EFFING THING OUT." restraints. Next chapter maybe...

* * *

><p>Engessa led the group to one of the castle's walls. The stallion turned and said, "Wait here." before he jumped up and a spell was cast to give him just the extra jump he needed to get over. He was doing great till he realized he was falling into the rose bushes. Doh!<p>

After getting all the thorns out of his body, Engessa started sneaking toward Marnax's quarters. The guards were running everywhere due to the disappearances. Everything was in full panic mode. The grounds were filled with guards.

She looked out. All of them were in their regular bulky, stallion forms with the unicorn and pegasus colors. The standard. If he was going to get there he would have to do the same. He cast the spell and his body changed from the normal slender and sneaky form to the standard bulky guard. He envied sergeants like Marnax. They could keep their forms while they worked. It was to distinguish them. But still it seemed a bit unfair. It was a very uncomfortable feeling.

In this form he easily blended in. Noone took notice as he entered Marnax's door. He changed back and walked on. Marnax was asleep. Engessa went and gently nudged him. "Stop it Luna." Marnax whispered. Engessa shook his head and smiled slightly. He nudged the sergeant's back again. Just groaning. Engessa didn't have a lot of time so he just picked up the bed and shook Marnax out of it. Needless to say he wasn't thrilled at this.

After a bit of groaning Marnax got up and eyed Engessa, "What do you need that is so important you had to dump me out of bed?"

Engessa sighed and began, "You see, while you were dozing off a few things happened. Two of your friends were seen again. I don't have much time so I may seemed rushed."

Marnax's ears perked up, "Is that so? Hey, I thought you had got a special assignment this morning in Luna's personal guard."

Engessa nodded, "That's when they came. Along with a large group of others. But long story short, we got out of there. Then we were attacked by the friend of assassin from a week ago and I, along with others chased it. Celestia came to the others and they were attacked by a manticore. Shadow got impaled thrice, Luna was crushed against a tree and they, along with Celestia and her student Twilight, disappeared. That's the major part."

Marnax's mouth was wide open. Then he started panicking, "What are we going to do! We have to save them! We must-"

Engessa shook his head, "No, you must get everyone ready. I won't go into detail but there may be a small war against something very big. I won't explain for brevity's sake. But I need you to give me something that will get me and a few other ponies into Rumentia for an audience with whoever is in charge."

Marnax eyed him suspiciously, "Why? Why not send me?"

Engessa nodded, "Because more likely than not Rumentia will become ruins along with Equestria if we don't get the right help. And you are too valuable to risk."

Marnax wasn't convinced, "Dragging different countries into our own business isn't exactly good."

Engessa shrugged, "Hey if it wasn't for you their leaders would probably be dead. I think they owe us something."

Marnax wasn't exactly convinced. But Engessa probably wouldn't back down. He thought, 'whats the worst that can happen.' So he sighed and pulled out a letter. He signed it saying it gave passage. He slowly handed it over, "I'll have your head if something goes wrong."

Engessa smiled and needed as he changed back into the standard form. He left unnoticed. And soon the party was out on their extremely long journey.

* * *

><p>Sunset Sky was drilling through her mind to guess what was going on. She had a few things figured out. Like where they were and what was happening. But she had a few little questions all the same, "Yo, beast!"<p>

A grumbling or ah... you know the whole everything but nothing thing, "What now? I seriously will enjoy killing you so you will shut up."

Sunset gulped, "Ah just two things. One: my da- I mean Shadow-"

The beast sighed, or- gah! It communicated in some way a form of displeasure, "Call him whatever you want, girl."

Sunset continued, "Anyways, he was impaled thrice before being transported here. Shouldn't he be dead by now?

The beast communicated in some way a form of mock pleasure, "When you see the wounds tell me. He won't be in exactly good shape if he goes back to any other world but thanks to lack of form he doesn't have any wounds does he?"

Sunset couldn't argue there. But she had one more thing that was sure to catch him off-balance, "Doesn't our existence prove that these ponies escaped out to the open world?" She knew she had him.

The beast conve... oh... "No. You could be from an alternate branch of this universe. As long as my master dominates the trunk thats all that matters. You see, the universes are like trees. There is the main universe is the trunk and its the true timeline. All the branches give the various different results. But not all actions are a branch. So you never know."

Sunset thought about that. It scared her a bit. She may be fighting a losing battle after all. That is generally not good.

* * *

><p>Twilight thought about the first date and location Shadow gave. It was only six years ago. The images displayed in Twilight's mind but Shadow could see them as well, since he was communicating with the dream.<p>

A young Rainbow Dash appeared and looked like she was in Cloudsdale. She was walking home and it seemed to be a good day. Then she was stopped by an older colt. His cutie mark was weights and he was well built for a young colt. He had a black coat and grey hair. "Hey, Rainbow Crash!" he said.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, "Bell, I don't have time."

The colt laughed and kicked Rainbow Dash in the side, sending her flying. This was extremely sudden. Twilight could have sworn there was something odd about this colt. "You're weak, Rainbow Crash."

Rainbow Dash got up, obviously hurt. She looked at Bell with a fire in her eyes. But she couldn't do anything as the colt flew toward her again and bucked her hard. She was tossed again and this time she was bleeding. She got up again and saw her attacker coming at her once more. This time she avoided him and gave a hit of her own in the pony's wing. A crack was heard and the colt howled in pain. He looked like if he wasn't going to maim Rainbow Dash before he was going to now. He charged once more but Rainbow Dash was too quick. She sidestepped and kicked him in the other wing. Hopefully he didn't need to fly for a while.

Rainbow Dash was following her instructions that she was given in school in case somepony tried to hurt her. But then things took a turn for the worse. Bell got in a buck. And this time it was really hard. Many many bones broke and she blacked out for a moment. When she came again Bells had his hoof at her throat and looked like he was going to kill her. That was when she managed to kick her way through the cloud she was on. Bell wasn't the brightest pony so he didn't know what happened for a second. Then Rainbow Dash flew up. She burst through the cloud but misjudged her position and slammed herself at high speeds at the pony's neck. Her hoof was angled at the exact worst place and she cut into the neck with the edge. A crack was heard and Bell fell to the cloud floor, bleeding from his neck.

Rainbow Dash took a step back. He was dead. She stood there, frozen in place. She then realized what she had done. Sure he was a jerk, but that doesn't mean... She couldn't continue. Her heart was racing a thousand miles an hour, and her eyes were streaming tears. She suddenly realized she was a murderer, and she had a body on her hooves. She panicked and threw his body through the clouds and raced down. She dug a hole and placed him in there and covered it quickly. She flew far away, crying bitterly. She wanted to vomit. She couldn't feel the pain. She had to find Fluttershy.

Twilight stopped. She couldn't go on. "Shadow... how did-"

Shadow nodded, "That would explain the way she acted."

Twilight was confused, "Acted when?"

Shadow sighed, "Well, lets just say our little excursion to Canterlot a week ago wasn't the smoothest ride."

Twilight felt a lump in her throat. She realized that she may have that same experience soon enough. She may have to fight a real pony before this was over. Shadow didn't seem shaken at all. She thought that was more disturbing than what she had just seen. If he had absolutely no reaction whatsoever to this. How many beings had he killed?

"I see you are looking at your friend's secrets." A voice said. Shadow groaned. Not her again. Twilight was too shaken to respond. "A bit of an abuse of power don't you think?"

Shadow wouldn't even turn around. "Are you going to be serious this time?"

Equestria sighed, "Yes, yes I will. I have something for you two. You will remain here in part."

Twilight brought herself together enough to say, "What about the other part?"

* * *

><p>Engessa started down the road to ponyville. Vanilla stepped up next to him, "Why are we going back here?"<p>

Engessa sighed, "We have a few things to do. First we may need more people to come with us. Also, I guess you may not know this, the ponies here have a few special things we may need. Hopefully not but maybe."

It became dark. Everyone looked around. That couldn't happen. It wasn't night yet. And Celestia and Luna were gone. Who did that?

* * *

><p>Greyson was excited. The moon had risen early. It might be soon. With the eclipse earlier and this it seemed that they could strike now. He was the commander of the black army. They were the greatest force of black magic users since the proclamation that had banished their kind from Equestria that was made a thousand years ago. They resided in a stronghold that even the most skilled royal guards had never penetrated.<p>

Greyson himself was a dark blue unicorn with sandy hair. Not the greatest colors but what are you going to do? His cutie mark was a sword. But if you looked closely you see its a magic sword. Now not all the people in this stronghold were warriors. Some were artists and poets. It's simple. The thing that makes the best art and music is love. And it was told to generation that the spark that gives the element of black magic to the bearer is love. It was dangerous, and painful. But one of the greatest gifts. Like friendship is the spark of light magic. They were just misunderstood.

Recently it had been an exciting time. Just over a week ago one of the elements of harmony's bearers and an unknown black mage were seen escaping from Luna's castle. Then it was said that a rival group had received a gift to go kill them. One hasn't been seen since but another turned and for some reason tried to assassinate Luna. One of the the black army spies said that a certain guard had been responsible for saving her. Then the mysterious caster and the bearer appeared again and killed that one. The rivals were at arms about this. If they could only get those two...

He heard a knock on his door. In came one of the guards, "Sir, two white unicorns requesting permission to enter. They demonstrated they are casters. One stallion and one mare. They say they are a couple"

Greyson nodded, "Let them in and bring them to me."

The guard hesitated, "Sir they say and act like they are nearly dead of exhaustion."

Greyson thought for a second, "Give them a guest room and we will talk in the morning."

The guard nodded and exited the room. He then came back to the travelers, "You were given permission to enter. I assume you want a room with double bed."

The mare seemed to force out the answer, "Y- yes."

The guard looked at them suspiciously, that sounded forced. One had a cutie mark of a shooting star. The other had one of a few black magic explosions. He decided to wait a second, "What are your names?"

The stallion answered, "I am Shade and my wife is Midnight Star."

The guard relaxed a bit. It was probably just them being tired. They looked like they had just raised the moon by hoof. "Ah, I will escort you to your quarters. It's refreshing to see an actual couple come here. Most are just wanderers who come here to fight and might find love along the way." He nodded.

Shade and Midnight gave a half-hearted nod. After they were shown to their quarters Midnight turned to Shade, "Midnight Star and Shade. Is that the best you could come up with?"

Shade groaned, "You nearly blew it yourself with the hesitation."

Midnight rolled her eyes, "Acting is hard when you are half dead from lowering the sun."

Shade growled, "And what about me? I had to raise the moon and use complicated spells to make it look like my magic was coming from your horn." He was understandable annoyed. Equestria just gave them bodies while theirs were trapped in the void and it wasn't the most comfortable thing. But the dual control was cool no doubt even if experiences and memories aren't shared.

Midnight yawned, "Well I'm going to bed." She opened the covers with her magic and climbed in. It felt warm and relaxing. Then she felt a warm figure at her back. It was Shade. "Oh no, you are sleeping somewhere else. I am not sleeping with you. Couple ruse or not." Midnight felt a bit better that Twilight never had to know of this scene.

Shade's response made her more sure of that, "No."

Midnight's face flushed, "Why?"

Shade whispered in her ear, "We are being monitored and being apart would arouse suspicion."

Midnight looked up and saw a magic recorder. Oh Celestia, no. Thank goodness it was only video and not audio.

Shade chuckled, "You're cute when you are horrified." Shadow felt more relaxed in Equestria. Sonic or any of his friends would probably say it more like he got a heart. He wouldn't be joking right now most likely if he was back in his world. But he felt there was something odd about it. Like he was meant for Equestria.

Midnight decided to play around, "Oh sure. I mean you are kinda cute." She said looking him in the eyes and getting a smile on her face, "And if you want we ca-" She never finished that sentence.

Shade had caught her off guard and kissed her. It wasn't long but it was hard. When he pulled away he checked her face, which was red as a tomato and opened in shock, and laughed. "That was so worth it for your expression right now alone." For some reason Midnight didn't find it nearly as funny. She was gasping for air. The red on her face was amplified nicely by her white coat. She was not expecting that. She just lay in that position for a long time, making Shade laugh harder. All of a sudden, Midnight liked the pony who had her pinned down in a forest better than the one she was with right now.

* * *

><p>Twilight was still a bit shaken from seeing her friend go through that. Equestria had made the split an hour ago and Shadow had gone back to looking through stuff. "There are consequences to misusing power. However, I was kidding about what you were doing. You are doing something valuable but you will have to suffer some more. But don't use it too liberally" Equestria said.<p>

Twilight sniveled a bit, "I liked you better when you were teasing us."

A light grew in the plain, and as it grew it took a shape. What exited was amazing. A large alicorn came out. Her coat was white as the snow. The first thing Twilight noticed was her mane. It didn't seem to be there until she realized it was like mist. It was almost invisible but you could make it out, waving in a imaginary breeze. Her tail was something else completely. It had the form of fire burning but did not seem hot. It licked the air and ground but nothing was burning. Her back legs seemed to be adorned with vines and her front ones were adorned with shells.

Equestria came and sat down beside her, "I do too. But right now you have things to do."

Twilight sighed, "Yeah, I guess. I have a question though."

Equestria smiled, "What would that be?"

Twilight began, "Why are Shadow and the others involved? They have their own world to care about. Why are they fighting our battles?"

Equestria nodded her head, "Very interesting question. I might tell you about worlds first. You see, my mother, the goddess, made different worlds. And she put different people in charge. At first in this world it was me and my sisters. But the goddess said this world would only last thirty thousand years. And have three ages. Me and my sisters weren't immortal. But we had each ten thousand years of life. At the end of my times black and light magic would arise. At the end of Celestia's reign the world would become completely self-sufficient. At the end of Luna's the world would end. Do you understand that?"

Twilight nodded, "Yes, I guess."

The white alicorn began again, "Now in some worlds she does different things. In some she rules directly. In some she takes people like me to rule. Some she takes the people and see what they do themselves. You've been to one of each."

Twilight's eyes shone in confusion, "I have?"

Equestria nodded, "In the world of your new friends my mother- wait, I should clarify she is not always a female in each world for she is what she wants to be. But anyways my mother set up three common beings as protectors. One for the creatures and two for the magics. Short story is: one is the "Master Emerald" One is completely destroyed and one is trapped inside the emerald and was stripped from most of his power. It didn't turn out well."

Twilight gasped. That didn't sound good. But what did this have to do with anything?

Equestria continued, "And the one she controls directly you only stopped in for a time. The library? But she gave them free will and a choice. They abuse it. But no system is perfect. I can't say I was a saint when I ruled." She got a far-off look. "We will continue this later. Your friend has something for you."

Twilight heard a noise, footsteps. When she turned around Shadow stood there. He looked at Equestria and gave a half-hearted bow. "I have another date. Sweet Apple Acres. Ten years ago."


End file.
